Shinobi Rules
by Squishfie
Summary: Naruto is sent back in a freak accident. Sent back to start a new life. Sent back to possibly change things for the better. Facing numerous hardships, trying to hide her real identity. She fights for herself, her new friends and her villiage, facing war and adversity. "The Shinobi rules aren't everything, a friends life is much more important than a mission". Eventual FemNaru/Kaka
1. Chapter 1: Seventeen

I don't know why I made the first chapter this long, usually they are quite short to capture a reader's attention, but as I was writing I just couldn't stop! So here it is. Sorry if it is over descriptive. I am asking for constructive criticisms please, if you comment saying "This blows", please do tell me what is wrong with it. This is my first Naruto fic, so enjoy!

This Story was inspired by Tsume Yukis story 'Second Chances'. I love FemNaru/Kakashi fics and there just aren't enough of them on this site.

Check out the story here: s/7877254/1/Second_Chances

Disclaimer for all future chapters: I do not own Naruto.

xXxXx

Chapter 1 – Seventeen

Ninja: a society of mercenary agents, highly trained in martial arts, ninjutsu, genjusu, and stealth, hired for covert purposes ranging from espionage to sabotage and assassination. That however was not the extent of the profession, not only were children trained from the young age of four to become assassins, to murder both the guilty and the innocent in cold blood, they were trained to kill basic human qualities to achieve these missions. They grew with a certain set of rules, drilled into their heads from the first day they begin at the ninja academy—the Shinobi Rules.

Many children grew thinking that these rules were the code of life, rules that can never be broken. But all rules are made to be broken, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for jails, holding cells, Torture and Interrogation Forces, most commonly known as a villages T&I department. Some of the rules were helpful for aspiring Shinobi, such as rule 32: A Shinobi must see the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings, a rule that has saved many a Shinobi's lives.

However there were many that were inhuman, causing children to be raised as robots. Rule number four; a Shinobi must always put the mission first, and number twenty-five; a Shinobi must never show emotion. However it is hard to completely crush ones emotions, and therefore to put a mission first before taking revenge on a fallen comrade, but in times of war, it is a Shinobi's emotions that can make or break them.

The fourth Shinobi world war felt as if it was never ending. It had been raging for six months now, six months of bloodshed, six months of watching their comrades die, six months of tears and emotional rollercoaster's.

She was lent against a tree trunk, perched amongst the highest of branches she could manage in her tired state, her breathing felt laboured as she hid amongst the half charred leaves. Her hair hung in disarray above her shoulders, the hair band that once held the once long blonde locks in a ponytail long destroyed, burned to a crisp with the percentage of her hair.

She tried to muffle her coughs, her lungs burning from the heavy smoke in the air. She could sense a familiar chakra signature moving towards her with the last of her depleting nature chakra. The distinctive dark orange markings that shadowed her eyes began to fade as her legs finally gave out beneath her and she was forced to her knees on the branch. She flared her chakra in two quick consecutive bursts to alert the fellow ninja of her position. He arrived only moments after, catching her clumsily as she slipped from the branch. He forced chakra into his arms and legs to support the crushing weight after her ten metre fall.

"Kakashi-sensei, your face" she whispered with half closed eyes as she forced herself to stay awake. She reached up with a weak arm and stroked the young man's uncovered chin, the five o'clock shadow pricking against her finger tips. The usual black cloth that had covered the bottom half of his face was ruined and in tatters, hanging from his neck. He smiled a sad smile, shifting her in his arms as—she was too weak to hold onto his back—he began running back to the camp ground. He looked down to his student; burns covered the back of her head trailing down the left side of her neck and to her arm, the once smooth skin red and blistered. Kakashi sighed in relief as he could see the burns healing already. No matter how many times he witnessed her healing abilities, they never ceased to amaze him.

He reached the camp ground within minutes, making a beeline for the closest medical tent. Dozens of Shinobi littered the inside, most injured and the rest tending to the wounded. Kakashi looked for the nearest empty futon and immediately placed her on the makeshift bed.

"Naruto?" a girl with large green eyes and roughly cut pink hair ran to her injured teammate and sensei, lithely swerving between the other people present in the room. She crouched down to her knees and placed her hands above Naruto, green chakra beginning to glow around them and flowing down to the woman in front of her, inspecting the healing patterns and the extent of her injuries.

"What's the verdict Doc?" Kakashi eventually asked as he watched the girl writing down an abundance of information on a worn clipboard. Kakashi's eyebrows drew together; his one eye furrowed in a frown, wondering just how much damage would be needed to induce that amount of writing and documenting.

"She has four fractured ribs, second degree burns as well as first degree chakra burns, possibly a punctured lung, low to medium risk smoke inhalation, she most likely had a few more injuries before you brought her in but the Kyūbi chakra most likely already healed them. There is also the possibility that she had had a poison in her blood stream but the Kyūbi seems to have taken care of that as well," Kakashi let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Recently, he'd been feeling more and more thankful towards the beast sealed inside of Naruto, if it hadn't been, he would most likely have broken the promise he made to his sensei's grave stone to protect her, for she would most likely have died already if it weren't for her inhabitant.

"—that's not all though, I have a feeling the Kyūbi is as exhausted as Naruto is. His healing is sloppy, in the end I'm going to have to re-break her ribs because they aren't healing straight," Kakashi rubbed his hand over his uncovered face, the skin wear his mask used to sit felt naked.

"Thank you Sakura, good work as usual," the pink haired girl, Sakura, smiled sadly to her sensei.

"You know I'd do anything for the people I care about, especially you and Naruto. A wise man once told me In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. I couldn't possibly not do everything in my power to help with words like them drilled into my conscience," her mentor smiled and chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder as he stood from his kneeling position, his joints cracking as he rose.

"Sounds like someone I could learn a few things from," Sakura laughed lightly before her eyes changed, all humour gone as she looked down to her friend. She raised her hand and watched as the green chakra began to form.

"You should probably be getting back, Naruto will be fine here, so you won't be abandoning her for your mission if you go," Kakashi looked admiringly at his student, wondering how someone like him could have possibly been any part of raising two such amazing Shinobi. He placed his hand softly on her head, his eyes conveying how proud he was of his student before turning and leaving.

xXxXx

It had been only a week and a half since Naruto had been admitted into the makeshift hospital, however for the blonde, which was probably one of the longest times she'd ever had to be in one. Her amazing healing capabilities had completely healed her wounds, the once charred skin smooth and pink, no scars left to mark her infinitely flawless complexion.

She was awake now, stretching her newly healed muscles, popping her stiff joints, the feeling bliss after lying down for so long. Her chakra had nearly completely returned, she felt more alive than she had in weeks. However, her happy mood would soon fade as she once again familiarised herself with the war around her.

Naruto felt a familiar chakra signature coming in her direction; she turned to see an older blonde woman with an overly large chest walking towards her. The two women smiled at the other. The older woman's smile was considerable smaller than the younger's as she approached.

"You seem well, but are you well enough for a mission?" The older woman asked, tapping a mission scroll in her hand.

"Come off of it Tsunade-baa-Chan, I am fighting fit and ready to end this war with everything that I have—" she paused briefly, her smile faltering, turning sombre "—I don't want to see any more of my comrades die,"

"Good answer," Tsunade handed that scroll over and watched as Naruto opened it, reading the contents, her eyes turned hard as steel as she reached the bottom.

"When do we leave?" She asked, placing the scroll into her pack, looking expectantly up to the woman she considered to be a grandmother.

"As soon as you can gather everyone together," Naruto nodded and instantly disappeared to find her fellow Shinobi. Tsunade frowned as she headed back to where the other Kage's waited, her hand ghosted over her collar bone where her own grandfather's necklace used to sit. "Good luck Naruto," she whispered, hoping for the girl's safety, not wanting to lose any more of her family.

xXxXx

The battle was long and hard, Naruto fought as hard as she could, but it wasn't good enough as the people around her gradually dropped one by one. Her fellow Shinobi, Shikamaru, appeared beside her, ripping her from where she stood before a giant ball of chakra obliterated the once even ground. The tailed beast ball—most commonly known as a Bijūdama—created a giant crater, reshaping the landscape.

Naruto had had enough; she couldn't sit back and watch the people she knew die any longer. '_Let's do this Kurama_,' she said into her mind, addressing the large demon fox inside of her. Her eyes glowed as she began to grow, turning into a giant chakra version of the Kyūbi.

She barely registered the rest of the fight, everything blending together as she fought the masked man and his army. The tailed beasts in front of her all stopped, large balls of chakra forming in front of them. Naruto mimicked the action, her own Bijūdama forming in front of her open jaw. The mass of chakra condensed and fired only a millisecond before it was too late, the colossal masses of chakra colliding between them.

Everything stopped. As the balls of pure chakra collided, everything stilled, all was silent.

She felt it before she saw it. Her oversized body began to slide towards the spinning balls of chakra, a hole forming in the middle, sucking her body towards it. She was the closest to the black hole; she turned in her place to see the people around her slowly being dragged in towards her. Tears escaped her fox like eyes as she drew in a deep breath, Kakashi's eyes widened when he realised what she was doing. He shouted for her to stop. But it was too late.

Naruto built the chakra up into her throat before letting a giant sonic roar from her mouth, in the direction of her comrades. They were all blown backwards, away from the gaping hole behind her, gradually dragging her closer and closer inside. The roar was nothing compared to what it could be, the chakra restricted in order to limit the injuries that would surly accompany this last ditch effort to save her friends.

She saw her friends blown into the distance, hoping one last time none of them were harmed by what she'd just done, before she was forcibly sucked into the hole behind her.

xXxXx

Thank you for reading the first chapter of Shinobi Rules! I hope to continue with the next one soon!

(It is 11:44pm here right now, sorry if the ending seems really rushed; I need to get some practice writing fight scenes. They are not my forte)


	2. Chapter 2: Eight

Chapter 2! Enjoy

xXxXx

Chapter 2 – Eight

The village was beginning to quieten as the Shinobi's began to stop their late night gatherings. Team members were celebrating after a long successful mission, old friends meeting up after being separated by their duties for months on end. It was a peaceful night in Konoha.

However the peace was not destined to last.

Outside of the village walls, the clear night sky began to violently cloud over, the stale night air twisting, putting the Shinobi village on alert as they watched the quickly forming clouds.

A young Shinobi, only seventeen years of age stood outside of a small BBQ shop with his friends as they heard the commotion only moments earlier, now watching as the sky churned mere kilometres from the village. His blonde hair whipped violently around his face, obscuring his vision. He looked to the boy beside him; his own spiky hair had previously been tied atop his head, his calculating eyes undisturbed as he watched the phenomenon before them. Another boy appeared not long after, standing next to the two elder Shinobi's, his almost gravity defying silver hair forced down and slicked back against his head from the raging wind.

Lightning lit the newly formed clouds, the electric currents were laced with monstrous amounts of chakra that leaked towards the village, '_even a child that had not_ _been trained to sense or even master their own chakra would be able to feel this'_, thought the blonde boy. He saw out of the corner of his eye as an ANBU operative quietly landed on the roof of the building next to the one that they were occupying, his cat-like movements unseen to many as he stalked across the rooves, his masked face turned towards the unknown occurrence.

ANBU, originally known in the old language as 'Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai', now more commonly known as the Special Assassination and Tactical Squad. The best, and sometimes the most feared Shinobi in their fields; genjutsu, ninjutsu, martial arts, and more, most specialising in numerous fields. They were Shinobi to be awed at, and to be feared.

A booming clash of thunder sounded, the clouds beginning to spin like a mini cyclone high in the sky, forcing the blonde's attention away from the ANBU. The glowing increased in the centre as something finally began to plummet from the storming mass, and it was something _big_! It fell to the ground like a meteor, the giant ball of fire, easily the size of the Hokage monument, plunged at an amazing speed. The yellow and red glow illuminating the village, and most likely neighbouring towns for kilometres, the giant mass would be easily visible throughout the Fire Country.

The impact was awe-inspiring, the dirt and rocks uplifted by the incredible force rained down on the village, several Shinobi covering civilians that had emerged from their beds, curious about the sudden ruckus, fearing an attack. A heavy layer of dirt thickened the air, the rampaging clouds and lightning withdrawing just as fast as they had emerged.

All was eerily still.

The silence was broken when the Sandaime Hokage appeared, barking orders to his fellow Shinobi. The blonde boy quickly joined the throng of people, ushering civilians into safer areas within the city, doing all he could to help calm the chaos. The Sandaime pointed out several ANBU's that he hadn't even noticed in the mass of people, indicating for them to follow the aging man.

"Minato!" the blonde boy, Minato, turned to see a beautiful girl his age with long red hair cascading down her back. He smiled as he grabbed her hand leading her through the crowds to help control the distressed civilians. "What the _hell_ was that thing?" she shouted above the noise, watching as Minato turned to look at her, a wary smile on his face. He lashed out quickly to his side grabbing a small boy mid step, his silver hair in disarray, his forehead protector loose against his forehead, falling across his left eye. The boy struggled in the older boys grip as he tried to fix the cloth back into its rightful place across his forehead.

"Wouldn't have a clue!" she just sighed at her boyfriend's giant smile, feeling relieved by his calmness as he went back to helping the people around him.

xXxXx

Naruto groaned, her entire body ached, her chakra system depleted. She attempted rolling over onto her stomach only to collapse into the soft ground below her, her limbs weaker than she could ever remember. Blood dripped from her mouth, her body shaking. She was terrified, what had happened? Where was she? She shouldn't be alive! These words were all she could think as she looked around her, taking in her surroundings.

Giant dirt walls were all around her as she lay at the bottom of a humongous crater. She felt Kurama inside her, weakened in a state similar to her own. She clutched her stomach as she pushed herself to _move_! Her free hand dug into the newly uprooted earth, her fingers easily sinking into the soft dirt. Breathing was difficult, it felt as if her lungs were torn to shreds, the air she breathed in just escaping through the holes, none of the oxygen making its way into her blood.

She looked up to find several cloaked figures standing at the edge of the crater staring down her, though it was too dark to see their faces. _Akatsuki!_ Her mind screamed, looking at the faint black cloaks as they swayed in the steady wind. The seal on her stomach lengthened across her body as she covered herself in the protective shield of the Kyūbi's chakra. The figures suddenly jumped down into the hole, weaving hand signs faster than she could see. She reacted purely on instinct. She had to protect herself, to kill the enemy.

The chakra from her arm suddenly formed into a giant claw aiming towards the group closest to her, intending to knock them away, or even slash them in half, anything to protect her in such a weakened state. However the claw never made contact as a booming voice at the opening of the crater shouted.

"Doton: Doryūheki!" the giant wall of earth appeared in front of the cloaked figures, the makeshift wall being crushed under the strength of the offending claw of chakra. Naruto suddenly screamed in immense pain, the sound that escaped her throat was strangled and raspy, though incredibly high, piercing the cold night air. The shroud of chakra around her suddenly depleted as she writhed on the ground, the strain of using that technique in such a state backfiring on her. Naruto's body began to convulse, roughly flipping her onto her back on the blood covered ground.

The last thing she saw before slipping into unconsciousness was the face of a man she thought she would never again see in her life. Tears escaped her eyes as she reached a weakened arm out towards the man above her.

"Oji-san," she smiled the biggest smile she could manage at the man she considered to be like her grandfather. She must be dead; she was finally able to meet everyone, her mother and father, Ero-sennin, all her comrades that died during the war. She no longer had to live in the world with all its hate and violence. She could finally rest.

xXxXx

The Sandaime Hokage watched as the tears escaped the young girl's eyes, her smile wide as she reached out to him, calling him her grandfather. He sighed with sad eyes as he looked to a woman, hidden beneath a black coat, her face hidden behind a porcelain mask. He motioned to her, nodding his head to the girl at his feet.

"Heal her enough to move her without killing her, we need to take her to the T&I hospital division, prepare the chakra suppression seals as well as the transportation container, we need to transfer her without anyone seeing what she really looks like," he watched as the ANBU's got to work, healing the young girl before placing her gently into a large black container, decorated in red flames that had been summoned from a storage seal. Her limbs were tied with chakra suppression wire; they could not risk an episode like the one they just witnessed happening within the village walls amongst the defenceless civilians.

"Just what are you child?" he whispered to himself as the door of the container was closed, sealed shut with several chakra seals, ready to transport to the village.

xXxXx

She awoke in a white room, it looked like a hospital, but she knew better. She'd seen inside Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Hospital, it was cruel, it was where the tortured were healed in order to be re-tortured. Naruto chuckled darkly without humour, she obviously hadn't died then. She looked at her arms to find black markings along their length, she'd seen the seals before, she wouldn't be able to leave the bed she was currently resting in, the seals forcing her back to the mattress, repelling her back if they moved outside of the frame of the bed.

But something was off, her arms were smaller and more childlike than she remembered, the seals were abnormally large compared to what they looked like on her body when they'd been place on her previously. She looked at the rest of her body; Naruto instantly began to hyperventilate as she inspected her body. It was all different; she was in the body of a child! What the _hell_ was happening to her?

Naruto barely registered what was happening as she hyperventilated, her emotions getting the better of her as she reverted to a full blown panic attack. A blonde man, who looked to be in his early forties entered the room, looking to the girl lying in bed, her eyes wild with panic as she clawed at her small body.

The man calmly walked over to her placing his fingertips to her temple, not even flinching when she shied away from him in terror. Naruto suddenly began to calm, her body becoming relaxed at the soothing chakra being pumped into her chakra networks. Once she had calmed down enough to think straight, another blonde boy walked into the room, he was only seventeen or sixteen years old, obviously an apprentice or a newly promoted member of the T&I. Naruto looked at him in shock; she would recognise the man anywhere, even if he did seem to be about two decades younger than she was used to.

"Inoichi-san?" the words escaped her mouth before she could think. The two men stopped suddenly, looking at her in shock, the younger of the two's eyed were wide with surprise. The older man recovered first, looking to the boy next to him, Naruto only then realised how much they looked alike. '_This must be his father,´ _she thought, looking between them

"State your name," the older man demanded, all emotion leaving his face. Naruto replied almost immediately, it felt against her will.

"Uzumaki Naruto, U-Z-U-M-A-K-I N-A-R-U-T-O" her brows furrowed together in thought, until she remembered the chakra the man had pumped into her skull. She recognised that technique, she had seen Ino do it once before, it was like a truth serum, but so much more effective. The chakra manipulates the brain waves, targeting specific nerves, not only could she not lie for an amount of time—depending on the strength of the user—she answered all questions 'willingly'. It was a very effective technique, however, what people believe to be the truth, isn't always the truth.

"Shinobi Registration Number"

"012607," she 'humhped' in annoyance as she answered their questions so easily, crossing her arms over her chest, watching as Inoichi scribbled down all her answers on a clipboard.

"City of birth"

"Konohagakure"

"Age"

"17," the men stopped suddenly at this answer, Inoichi's pen stopped momentarily, looking to his father sceptically before returning to writing. _'It's true' _he thought, _'this technique really can be unreliable at times.'_

"Name of parents"

"Father; Namikaze Minato, mother; Uzumaki Kushina," Inoichi dropped his pen, catching it only centimetres from the ground. He looked to his father in shock, the man was still scarily calm, and Inoichi straightened his back clearing his throat and regained his composure. _'That's just not possible, this girl is nuts,' _he thought as he scribbled down the information. The older man stared down at the girl, she seriously thought what she was saying was the truth. He knew the two Shinobi's she had just named, and both of them were considerably too young to have birthed a child of her age.

"Okay then—" he let out a breath, feeling that this interrogation was failing, "—state your team and registration numbers"

"Team seven, consisting of Uchiha Sasuke: 012606 and Haruno Sakura: 012601, under Hatake Kakashi: 009720," the man sighed, looking over to his son as he wrote down the information with a look saying, 'yeah right princess,' on his face. He felt the same, there was no way any of this information could be true. He checked through the database of ninja's and found Hatake Kakashi's profile, the registration number matching to the one she gave, the boy was only eight years old at the time, a very promising Shinobi, but still too young to captain a genin team. Sighing, he turned back to the girl, her blue orbs staring calming and questioningly back at them, she seemed almost as confused as they were.

"Will you willingly undergo the Yamanaka clan's mind reading jutsu to verify this information? It doesn't matter if you say no, we'll forcefully go through with it, but it is always nice to know that one's willing to cooperate," the girl instantly smiled, answering quickly without hesitation.

"I, Uzumaki Naruto, give consent and therefore my complete cooperation. However you should also know that 'a sagacious fox is not in attendance within my passion, I will present to you Agatha's lynx with the lion's pendant'," the two men looked at the girl, one as if she was crazy, not understanding the old code, the other's eyes narrowed, recognising the old code as one from the time of the Shodai Hokage.

'A sagacious fox is not in attendance within my passion' meaning she had no intention of hiding anything or tricking anyone as a fox would, and therefore would not harm the village. 'I will present to you Agatha's lynx with the lion', the lynx symbolising honesty, openhearted, non-judgmental counsel, meaning she would tell all she knew with nothing to hide, and the lion symbolising calmness, courage and relaxation, showing her willingness to cooperate.

"Very well—" the older man nodded to his son, "—prepare the box," Naruto cringed at the word, knowing what it meant. The boy left the room quickly, leaving his father and the child alone. "I look forward to seeing inside that head of yours Uzumaki Naruto," the words caused her cringe to deepen as she looked at the man's smile broaden sadistically. She hated when the Yamanaka's tried to infiltrate her mind, she'd had to tell Kurama that it was voluntary, and he _shouldn't_ try and reject them from her mind, no matter how much she would want them out of there.

xXxXx

Three days later, Naruto was placed inside a large cube, her head propped outside through a small hole on top. Her body completely submerged in chakra saturated water, keeping her body immobile and her mind open for inspection. Yamanaka Inoshi walked over to the unconscious girl, his son by his side carting a large machine behind him. Once they had reached the tank Naruto was held in, he placed his left hand on the machine his son had brought.

"Commencing, interrogator Yamanaka Inoshi, registration 006645, the subject is female, claims to be an Uzumaki, name Naruto. Claims to be aged 17, however, by appearances and DNA testing appears to only be approximately eight years of age. Claims to be born in Konohagakure on the 10th of October, six years from now—" the man stopped, clearing his throat, when they had done the maths of her supposed birth date, it showed she claimed to be born in a year that hadn't even occurred yet. Inoshi rubbed his face with his free hand and continued. "—claims her father is Namikaze Minato: 008713, and her mother is Uzumaki Kushina: 008710, both are currently Jounin of Konoha, both only seventeen years of age. She claims to be on a team consisting of Uchiha Sasuke: 012606 and Haruno Sakura: 012601, under Hatake Kakashi: 009720. The Uchiha and Haruno have both been shown to not exist in the Shinobi data books. Hatake Kakashi is currently eight years old, apprenticing under Namikaze Minato after graduating and being promoted to Chūnin last year. I will now commence the mind reading jutsu and determine the _validity_—" the man paused, a skeptical look on his face, "—of her claims."

The process was long, as the mind walker read through all of Naruto's memories, a detailed report was sent through his mind to the machine he was connected to, printing off a detailed report of all he saw, and what he saw amazed him. Everything she had said so far was correct. The Yamanaka couldn't believe what he was seeing. He watched the transitions of the Hokage, from Sandaime, to Minato becoming Yondaime and dying, Sandaime taking over again then later dying, then Tsunade-Hime taking over as Godaime. The Uchiha massacre, his granddaughter, Ino, being somewhat friends with the girl in front of him, he saw everything, and it slightly disturbed him. This girl had been through so much in her life, but managed to accomplish so much more, becoming the Kyūbi Jinchūriki at birth, growing up with the burden, the fourth Shinobi world war—the third was approaching but still far off—as well as becoming _comrades_ with the Kyūbi. He did not think it were possible to tame the Kyūbi, it was just unfathomable. The world around him began to rumble when he thought the word 'tame', Inoshi's eyes widened, the Kyūbi was present, and it was _allowing_ him to look into the girls mind. The mindscape suddenly changed, and before him stood the giant nine-tailed beast, it's imposing figure towering over him. The giant demon smiled sadistically down at the human beneath him.

"I allowed you to look through the entirety of her memories, now I think it is time that you leave," Inoshi felt winded as he was forcibly pushed from the girls mind and into his own. The Shinobi present in the room looked to Inoshi in amazement. It is the first time they had ever seen their senior forcibly removed from the subjects mind, it was unthinkable that anyone, especially an eight year old could accomplish. Inoshi stood up straight after catching his breath, the headache from being pushed out fading, he looked to the large pile of paper documenting the girl's memories.

"Collect them and send them with at least two ANBU's to the Hokage, this information is in a category of its own. Class-S, top secret. Yamanaka Inoshi discontinuing the interrogation—" he looked to the girl before him in amazement, turning back to the recording device, still slightly out of breath, "—all of Uzumaki Naruto's claims have now be investigated. All claims are the truth," the Shinobi in the room looked to their commander in amazement, they had heard the claims the girls had made at the beginning of the interrogation, there was no way they could possibly be real.

The man removed his hand from the girls head and looked to his son, frozen where he stood as he stared at his father.

"You can't be serious, it's not possible" he whispered as the two alerted ANBU's collected the large scroll and recording of the interrogation, carting it away towards the Hokage's tower. Inoshi smiled to his son and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"You seriously would have to see it to believe it," he said before beginning to remove the girl from the tank. Amazed at the things she had accomplished. _'You have a very interesting path ahead of you young Shinobi; let's hope this future will be brighter for you than the last,'_ he thought before returning the girl to her holding cell. Wondering how this will affect their futures.

xXxXx

Well that is chapter two :) I never really liked how quickly the Hokage has always believed Naruto so quickly, saying he's from the future. So I tried to make it a little more believable.

I probably won't update this quickly often, because my school life is _really_ busy, I don't even know how I found the time to write this. Thank you for reading, tell me what you think, if there is anything you are really happy with or really don't like just review and I'll take it into consideration.

Thank you!

Tiarni  
And I would like to say sorry! because there were some technical dificulties, and a lot of my breaks which now look like xXxXx and were ***, and they weren't showing up. Sorry about that.


	3. Chapter 3: Eight

A BIG thank you to all the people that had read my story and a special thank you to the people that reviewed telling me what they thought. THANK YOU

xXxXx

Chapter 3: Eight

She hated hospitals, but not because of the overwhelming smell of antiseptic and the faint smell of covered blood. Not because of the crying children upset over their 'boo boos'…okay partly because of the whiny children. She could put up with most of those things, the part about hospitals that she truly hated, was the fact that they were just so _boring_! There was absolutely _nothing_ to do, ever.

Naruto sat on the side of the bed, her back to the door as she looked at the sun shining outside the windows. She had been in the holding cell two nights after the Yamanaka men had invaded her mind, totalling to 5 days in the holding cell of the T&I. She'd really began to miss the sun and all its warmth. She swung her legs back in forth, occasionally whacking her heal against the cold steal supports, forgetting they were even there. She sighed, closing her eyes, letting the now high sun to heat her face, her vision tinting red behind her eyelids.

The village outside sounded glorious to her ears, it was something she hadn't heard for a long time. Laughter, busy merchants, playing children, life! She'd missed the life of the village, of course their Wills of Fire had forever burnt within them throughout the war, but it was nothing compared to what she saw outside her window. It was so beautiful that Naruto could feel the salty moisture begin to pool in her eyes, blurring her vision. She didn't even care, screw the Shinobi Rules, she would let these tears run their course, loving the emotion they brought with them. She regretted feeling happy when she thought she had died that night she turned up here; she'd been amongst war for so long she'd nearly forgotten how beautiful it was to live.

She paused when she felt a chakra signature coming towards her room, hoping they wouldn't come into her room. Although she was completely fine with crying, she preferred to cry alone, not liking people to see her without her constant mask of happiness. Her happiness generally brought happiness to those around her, and she lived for that, seeing their eyes light up, smiles brightening their faces.

She got off on that…well not really, but it was the best analogy her seventeen year old mind could think of at the time.

Her fears were confirmed when the chakra signature stopped outside of her open door, she could feel their eyes on her back. Naruto just looked out the window pretending not to notice the person behind her. Whoever it was wouldn't be able to harm her, the chakra felt like that of a child's, perhaps nine years of age, though they had enough for a genin to possess, which Naruto found admirable, since no one was allowed to graduate before the age of ten in her time.

She still felt weird thinking that. This was her Konoha, but not her time. It was her Konoha but it felt a little alien to her. There were so many similarities, but she couldn't help but notice the differences.

The child behind her took a deep breath as if they were preparing themselves for something. Naruto smiled, she could almost picture them giving themselves a little pep talk for some self encouragement. The footsteps finally began to make their way into the room, quickly walking towards Naruto's bed.

"Hello," the voice was bright and cheerful, filled with the innocence and naivety of a child, it was almost soothing to Naruto, she hadn't heard such a voice from a child in such a long time. She turned her head to acknowledge the girl, she was beautiful for her age, Naruto just knew that she would grow up to be absolutely stunning. However, she didn't recognise that girl, so it was obvious to Naruto then that she hadn't had the chance to grow into the beautiful woman she could picture her as being.

"Hello there," Naruto's reply sounded too old, she didn't like the sound of it at all, it just went to show how much she had to grow during the war, it showed just how much she had seen. The young girl beside her looked at her inquisitively, her beautiful bright brown eyes furrowing at the girl in front of her. The little girl shrugged and smiled a small smile, her eyes brightening slightly, pointing to Naruto.

"Look! Both you and I have marking on our cheeks," Naruto began to laugh at the girl. It's almost like she had known that Naruto needed her pure innocence to cheer her up. She touched the whisker like markings on her own cheeks, looking down at the slanted purple rectangles on the girl below her.

"You're right! We do, my name is Naruto by the way, what's your name?" Naruto said as cheerfully as she could, trying to mimic the girls bright personality, trying to reconnect with herself from when she was a young trickster.

"My name is Nohara Rin, nice to meet you Naruto-san—" Rin bowed to Naruto in greeting before quickly straightening again. Naruto smiled her wide signature grin down at her encouraging the girl to continue. "—I am an aspiring Medic Nin I come to the hospital during all my spare time and follow some of the available Medic Nin's, I have learnt _so much_!—", the girl continued her rant about the wonders of medical ninjutsu and how she planned to become as good as Tsunade Hime one day. Naruto smiled at the name, it made her wonder what was happening in her time. Would they continue on as they are as if it were a different dimension, or had the entire world gone back with her? Because she sure as hell was not letting things turn out the way they had, or were supposed to. Naruto came out of her musings when she looked over to see Rin with a clipboard in hand, furrowing her brows in concentration.

"They haven't taught me how to read these completely yet—" she said gesturing to the clipboard with all of Naruto's personal information on it, causing her to worry slightly at what incriminating things could be written there. "—they are coded by the rank, power level, or importance of the person that it is about, I have never seen this code before, I can only read civilians and genin code right now, so you are either a Chūnin or above, very powerful, or just incredibly important," Naruto would hand it to the girl, she was bright. She was however relieved to know that the clipboards were coded, she hadn't known they were, however it shouldn't have been too hard to guess. She lived in a Shinobi village, and since all personal information was required on those boards for the doctors, they had to either code them or place seals on them, or even both, so as enemy ninja could not steal the information they provided.

"Oh wait—" Naruto froze as the girl looked more intensely at the clipboard, "—there is a seal here in the top right hand corner, and I can't be sure, but I think there is a very complex genjutsu as well," She looked up to Naruto in wonder, her eyes questioning. Naruto just stared at the clipboard in surprise, she didn't know whether she should feel flattered or not that they had placed such protection on her personal information. The scroll of her memories had most likely already been completely destroyed or sealed away by now, if just her medical report was important enough for that amount of cover, her memories must be invaluable.

"Just who are you?" Rin asked in amazement as she looked up to the girl sitting above her. Naruto laughed, feigning innocence as she scratched that back of her head.

"I'm Naruto silly!" Rin began to protest when a knock sounded at the door; both girls stopped and stared at the door in amazement at the man the stood there, his white robes and broad hat making him easily identifiable.

"Good morning Hokage-sama!" Rin squeaked as she quickly bowed to the man in the doorway. Naruto sat frozen in her seat, unable to move, too scared that if she looked away, the man would disappear. Rin peeked out of the corner of her eye up to the blonde girl, confused when she didn't hear a second greeting. It almost horrified the young girl to think that she wouldn't show the utmost respect to someone like their Hokage! However what Rin saw confused her, Naruto's eyes had began to well up with tears as she stared incredulously at the man in front of them.

Sarutobi Hiruzen hadn't known what to expect when he walked into the girls hospital room. After reading the scroll of memories, he wasn't really sure what to expect out of all of this. From what he read, she was extremely unpredictable, even though he read her thoughts through and through; sometimes even he was amazed at some of the things the girl was capable of. He walked over to the bed leisurely, trying not to alarm the frozen girl. He hadn't thought she'd cry, but that wasn't all, he hadn't really expected her to absolutely launch herself at him with extended arms, screaming 'Oji-san' at the top of her lungs either. He accepted the girls hug, easily catching her. She had been through too much in her life; she'd experienced too much misery for a girl of only seventeen.

He looked down then, spying the young aspiring Shinobi across from him, her already large eyes impossibly widened as she stared at the girl and himself. Her mouth hung slightly agape, she just couldn't believe it, how someone could so casually hug the _Hokage_, as if he were another person their age!

A knock at the door brought everyone back to the present, the head doctor at the time, a beautiful aging Hyūga woman stood with an eyebrow raised in question at the scene before her. Naruto smiled her large signature smile to the woman, not caring for formalities with the Hyūga's, treating them like she would any other clan. The woman looked from Naruto—showing no emotion—to the young girl that had miraculously hidden behind the bed the minute the Hyūga had walked through the door.

"Rin—" her voice was smooth and caring, contrasting greatly with her emotionless face, "—You're not meant to be in here," Rin came out from behind the bed, smiling sheepishly.

"But Hyūga-sama, it's not every day I see someone my age in here that isn't crying over a splinter," she pouted adorably, truly looking disheartened by the lack of stronger children her age for her to meet in the hospital. The Hyūga woman smiled then, her eyes crinkling slightly at the corners.

"That's because the stronger children your age don't need to come to the hospital so often Rin—" the young girl looked down and shuffled her feet, still embarrassed by being caught in Naruto's room without permission to be there, "However, this room is still restricted to all personnel below red clearance Rin, you should be well aware of this," Rin closed in on herself deeper, closing her eyes in embarrassment.

"Run along dear, you were just curious," Sandaime reassured the girl, encouraging her to leave with a nod of his head. Rin bowed immediately to both the Sandaime and the Hyūga woman, waving to Naruto before running from the room as fast as she could.

"Now—" the Hyūga woman said, closing the door behind the girl, "—your physical results are back," she smiled, waving a folder in front of her. Naruto narrowed her eyes at the paper, not sure whether she really wanted to know what was written on those sheets.

xXxXx

Kakashi hated hospitals, he didn't like sitting still in a bed, when he could be out in the fields training, perfecting his new jutsu's, hell, _making_ new jutsu. He was happy however at the fact that it wasn't him that was stuck in the uncomfortable beds for nights, but his mentor. Minato sat on the edge of the bed, up to the elbow of his right arm as well as the right side of his face was burnt with chakra as he waited for the doctor to tend to him. He smiled to his young apprentice as he moodily sat in the corner of the room, sharpening and polishing his kunai and shuriken, angry that his mentor would not let him leave.

"Why am I here sensei? You'll be fine, let me go train," the boy was calm, however an eight year old can only suppress so much of their emotions, even the stoic boy in front of him had a breaking point…and Minato had a sadistic love for when it was reached.

"Ne, Kakashi-chan, don't be so cold to your sensei. What if I was seriously injured? Or even worse, what if I were in critical condition and this was the last time you'd ever get to spend with me?" Minato acted dramatically, clutching his hands to his chest. Kakashi simply looked back at him as if he were insane, sometimes thinking the older boy actually was.

"There'd be more air to breathe," Minato's face blanked in indignation, crossing his arms over his chest, wincing when he remembered the state of his arm.

"You're no fun, you know that?" Kakashi groaned in annoyance, packing away his weapons.

"Just because the jutsu you're trying to make blew up in your face, doesn't mean you have to waste my time perfecting mine," Kakashi stood, itching to move after spending too much time sitting in one place.

"Hey, when I finish this, I'll try to add my elemental chakra to it, and I am telling you, this thing will be known throughout all the nations," Kakashi ignored the man in front of him, opting to pace the small room impatiently.

"What's taking so long where are all the doctors in th—" Kakashi was unable to finish his sentence as a crash sounded in the hall, followed by the shouts of a small girl.

"I just need to _move_! Let me out, let me train, I need to do something _productive_!" the two ninja's looked to the hall in time to see a blur of blonde hair sharply turn into their room. The girl suddenly stopped when she looked at the two to occupy the room she'd just attempted to escape through.

Naruto couldn't believe it, right in front of her stood the childhood version of her sensei, pre Sharingan, and next to him, stood her very young teenaged father, alive and…kind of well, depending on your definition of 'well', considering he looked like burnt steak. Minato smiled down at the blonde girl in confusion, not understanding why she was standing there with such a shocked face, he didn't look that bad did he? He thought as he looked at the charred skin of his right arm, wincing a little.

Just as the blonde girl breathed in as if about to speak, a hand shot out, grabbing the back of her hospital gown, lifting her in the air. She hung in the air lifelessly, still too shocked to really think. Meeting all these people she thought she'd never see again left her mind as a gooey mush of emotions. The Hyūga woman straightened her attire and smoothed back the hair that had fallen from her bun. She huffed quietly, looking at the bundle she held in her right hand, the girl rocking her legs back and forth, her shocked expression fading. She turned to Minato and Kakashi then, nodding her head to the two in greeting.

"I'll be back to fix your arm as soon as I have taken this thing back to her room," Naruto smiled her signature grin to the two Shinobi, shrugging slightly in a '_what ya gonna do?'_ gesture as she nodded to the iron grip of the Hyūga. Minato thanked that woman, not looking away from the character she held. He smiled as the girl loudly announced that she was 'going to attempt escape from the evil hospital' before being carted off, back to her hospital room.

"I like her already," Kakashi looked incredulously to his teacher, shaking his head before just walking out of the room with a quiet sigh. He needed to get out of the hospital before the idiocy of the patients infected him.

xXxXx

Thank you again for reading, all the characters are finally starting to meet! I look forward to hear what you think!

Tiarni


	4. Chapter 4: Eight

I would just like to thank all of you whether you reviewed, favourite, followed or just read and nothing else, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! I Love hearing your feedback, you guys motivate me to write!

xXxXx

Chapter 4: Eight

Hospital, an institution in which sick or injured persons are given medical or surgical treatment, aka, an institution in which Naruto is constantly trapped despite having the most amazing healing abilities across all the countries.

She'd had finally been granted permission to be released after one long week stuck inside the confines of the hospital walls. She felt so alien in a city that was once so familiar, everything was so different, yet so similar to the Konoha she remembered before Pain had destroyed it. It was all so nostalgic, yet so daunting. Naruto looked around with wide eyes, she almost felt like crying to be honest, she just missed the feeling of life that was so evident throughout this village.

The people were bustling around her, the Uchiha fan proudly worn by more people in one place then she'd ever seen in her life as the Uchiha Police thrived in the village. She spied a young man roughly twenty years old who she instantly recognised as Hyūga Hiashi, his usual stoic and regal behaviour wasn't present as he sneaked through Konoha's alleyways, smiling as he pulled along a strikingly beautiful woman. She could only guess that his woman would later go on to become Hinata's mother, as the two were like two peas in a pod, despite small obvious differences, they were practically the same person looks wise.

Naruto smiled as the two disappeared from her sight, the sight of Hiashi acting like a love struck teen made her smile, it actually seemed surreal. More surreal than a pink elephant somersaulting through hoops down Konoha's main district, though Naruto believed that with all the messed us genjutsu some people have created, that could seriously be a possibility. Though all the jutsu in the world would never make the Hyūga Hiashi from her time act like the young man she'd just seen, it just didn't seem possible.

She came out of her musings when she reached her destination. The great red building, proudly donning the symbol of fire stood regally before her, the Hokage monument behind it complimented the building she thought so fondly of, the memories sweet. She began to enter the Hokage's building, taking her time as she strolled through the halls, looking at the walls that were decorated with the photos of accomplished Shinobi; it was practically the Shinobi hall of fame.

She stopped suddenly when she read a certain name, she'd never seen the man before, however she's know his name anywhere: Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang and Hatake Kakashi's wrongfully vilified father. She had never seen his picture here before from her time, however she now understood why Kakashi would always slow down through these halls when they were still a genin team, going to collect their next mission.

She sighed before moving on, Naruto wasn't sure how long it had been since the man had died in this time, though according to how young Kakashi looked when she had run into him the previous week, it could have possibly been only a year ago, give or take a few months.

Pushing through a pair of swinging wooden doors, the receptionist smiled when she entered, standing so as she could see Naruto over the tall desk as she approached.

"What are you doing here sweetheart? Are you lost?" Naruto looked at the woman as if she were retarded. She may have looked eight years old, but she should be well aware that there were numerous Konoha children her age that were graduating the academy within a year, and were not completely defenceless lost children.

"No, I am here to see the Hokage," the woman laughed, thinking Naruto adorable. She decided to play along with the child's fantasy.

"Okay honey, but he is very busy, do you have an appointment?" She noticed as the girl in front of her 'huffed' in annoyance.

"Not really, Oji-san told me to come by after being released from the hospital," the woman's face blanched at hearing the casual and demeaning way that she addressed the Hokage. Naruto smiled brightly at her horrified face, she could see the anger building up through her eyes. Before she could thoroughly scold the girl for her rudeness, followed by a lecture of Konoha's hierarchy and how someone like her should properly address a Kage whether he was present or not , the man himself emerged from his office with impeccable timing.

"Oji-san!" Naruto greeted the Hokage, smiling broadly as she skipped over to the man, her shoulder length hair bobbing behind her. The woman straightened then and bowed to her Kage, her annoyance at the young girl still evident in through her eyes

"Good morning to you too, I've been expecting you, Misaki—" the receptionist stood straight, her full attention directed at the Hokage, "—do not disturb us unless it is of great importance, I will alert you when we are finished," he smiled to the woman as she stuttered out a soft 'yes', looking incredulously to Naruto. Said girl pulled down the bottom of one of her eyes and stuck her tongue out to the woman, smiling when she raised a challenging eyebrow in return.

Naruto ran to the corner, dragging the seat reserved for long meetings with people, such as the Fire Daimyō, in front of the Hokage's desk. She plopped down—or up—into the oversized chair, watching as the Hokage closed the door and activated his silencing seals.

"How have you been Naruto?" the aging man asked as he descended into his seat with all the grace and stealth of a deadly assassin, making barely any noise. Naruto shrugged at his question, thinking of a way to answer.

"As well as someone in my position can be I guess," she terribly missed the people of her time, the rookie nine, Team Gai. They would all be born eventually, but they would not be the friends they were. She'd be over a decade older than them, old enough to be their sensei, not that she'd mind knocking them around a little.

"You must miss them all, but remember that we all share the Will of Fire, we are all united. You'll be with them again, you'll just have a little more seniority," the Hokage smiled, it was like he had read her thoughts. _He wasn't called The Professor for nothing,_ Naruto thought, smirking a little.

"I'll come up with a few D-rank missions for them while I'm waiting," the Hokage chuckled at this, glad the mood had been slightly lightened, yet a little scared at the evil smile Naruto now donned on her face, he feared for the future generation.

"So how was the reading material? I apologise, my vocabulary has never been amazing," Sarutobi smiled down at Naruto as he reached for the large manila folder in the seal protected draw beside him.

"I must admit, it was a bit of a tear jerker, such a sad yet truly inspirational story, I would and wouldn't recommend it to the people of Konoha. Maybe if it wasn't such highly classified information. You lived an inspiring life Naruto, from what I read, you're an amazing person and I would like to thank you for all that you did for Konoha," Naruto blushed slightly as the Hokage praised her, instinctively reaching up to scratch the back of her head. Her shoulder length hair felt so short compared to what it once was as she stroked the blonde locks, thinking about anything besides her slight embarrassment as the Hokage praised her.

"Well, I would never run away or go back on my word, that's just my nindō I guess," Sarutobi smiled again, nodding his head in agreement.

"And what an inspiring nindō, truly the Will of Fire. I don't think I've told her yet how inspiring you are," The Hokage and Naruto smiled to each other at this, the latter chuckling a little, her cheeks reddening more than previously.

"No, I've got this feeling that you may have mentioned it once, or twice, three maybe four times," the mood was relaxed and lightened as Sarutobi finally opened the folding in front of him. He flipped a few pages before stopping and reading the files. "Hit me, what's the verdict Doc." Naruto leaned forward, resting her elbows on her folded knees, cupping her head in her hands as she stared at the aging Hokage.

"Well, however you managed to travel back in time, it had the potential to kill you. From what you've told us, from when you were seventeen, you have travelled twenty-three years back into the past, six years before you are due to be born. The medic-nin looked at your DNA and managed to find that it has reversed and '_de-aged' _ approximately 2 and a half years for every one year that you travelled back, so your body has been aged as eight years old, be happy to know that your mentality has not seemed to have changed, though you'll be in a thirteen year old body but a mind of a twenty-two year old…Be careful with that, you might want to do certain things that aren't really appropriate for your bodies age—" the man was unable to finish however when Naruto suddenly held up her hands in front of her with loud proclamations for the man to stop.

"—So as I was saying, this was potentially very deadly, because if you travelled back forty-six years, you would have reverted to a foetus and you would now be dead—" Naruto was shocked to say the least. She raised to absorb the information relieved that the man hadn't spoken in technical terms and had 'dumbed it down' to a language she could understand.

"—the report shows that for someone of your age, your chakra reserves-not including the Kyūbi's—is already on par with a very high Chūnin, maybe even a low Jounin. With what I've read, this is nowhere near how much you must've had, but it is certainly more than what you had the first time you were eight," Naruto groaned, she wasn't looking forward to having to re-train her chakra control to build up the amount of chakra she once had. She didn't even want to attempt manipulating nature chakra in her state without the old Toads present in case her lowered chakra would cause her to absorb too much, and she didn't really feel like turning into a giant toad statue right now.

"Well, I still have pretty awesome potential no? I mean, who was it that managed to pull out enough chakra to obliterate the Sandaime's Rock wall, right after falling thousands of feet from the sky after travelling through time after a battle to the death?" Naruto raised her hands and shoulders beside her in an exaggerated questioning manner. The Sandaime sat back in his chair, the girl in front of him truly was amazing. She was such a strong person, physically and emotionally, he was proud that such a girl grew in Konoha, someone that truly represented the Will of Fire he so strongly believed in…she'd probably hate what he was about to say next.

"So, there is four months until the next academy graduation, I was wondering if you would like to enter so retrain your body and graduate with the people your 'age'—"Naruto's face grew shocked in disbelief, about to _thoroughly_ decline the Sandaime's offer with a claim that he was going senile sooner than she thought he would before the man raised a hand to stop her.

"Unfortunately for you, I can only legally introduce you into Konoha's Shinobi system if you have proof of completion of at least one year in some sort of training program such as an apprenticeship or the academy. This will be a good chance for you to figure out the limits of your new body, as well as build yourself a name in Konoha," Naruto slumped back in her chair, she knew the man was right, but she didn't like the idea of going back to her academy days, those memories weren't always her most pleasant. Sighing Naruto stood in her chair balancing easily on the uneven cushion, a determined glint in her eyes.

"This time I don't plan on being dead last, I'll show them kids what a true ninja of Konoha is! When do I start Oji-san?" Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at the name, he admitted that he was forty-seven, and was proud of his age as many ninja weren't so lucky to live as long as he, however he didn't yet consider himself old enough to be called Oji-san.

"How's tomorrow sound to you?" he didn't miss the annoyed twitch in the girls eyes at the date of her academy days being so soon, however she immediately composed herself, smiling before turning and leaving, opening the door, breaking the silencing jutsu. Sarutobi smiled and tapped his finger against the desk counting down.

"Three, two, one—" the door suddenly burst open again as the blonde girl re-entered.

"So, where am I staying again?" he smiled before tossing her a pair of keys, watching as her eyes lit up in recognition at the familiar address, before smiling and exiting again with a quick 'thanks', leaving the office quiet and less lively. She really managed to brighten up a room without even trying.

xXxXx

The ninja academy looked different to how she remembered it; she knew however that it was one of the buildings that were rebuilt after the Kyūbi attack, so it wasn't exactly a shock. However, the feel of the academy was nearly identical, screaming children ran everywhere, the biggest difference being the abundance of Uchiha children acting half composed, though all of the younger Uchiha's from the Kindergarten Academy seemed louder and more out of control than even she had been. Naruto used to be the loudest ninja there, however her four years outside the academy as one of Konoha's Shinobi as well as the war forced her to grow somewhat. She didn't deny that she was still a loudmouth ninja—louder than most liked—but she just wasn't the child from the academy she used to be.

She walked through the gates, looking around her at the people and the buildings. What surprised her the most however was the old tree in the corner of the training field/play ground. Hanging from the sturdiest branch of the tree was her swing, the one she spent so many days on alone as she watched the other children with their families, completely jealous of the life they had that she never would. She kind of felt like eating those words now, however she still wasn't sure she'd be able to actually have a family, her coming from the future isn't exactly something you can just tell someone.

She made her way to the classroom she'd been assigned to just before the chime of the bell signifying for the children to start school sounded. She waited by the teachers desk, drumming her fingers on the dark mahogany wood as she waited. Naruto could feel the stare sand hear the whispers of the other children, wondering what she could possibly be doing in their class. She sighed with relief when the teacher showed up, the man drawing the kids' attention. Normally Naruto would love the attention, she thrived in it, but there was something about children that unnerved her. She didn't know what and she didn't have to think for much longer as the teacher finally addressed her.

"Uzumi Naruto I assume?" Naruto nodded, still trying to adjust to the new name, sad that she had to hide the Uzumaki origins she so loved, she was thankful however that she could keep the beginning of her name. Normally she wouldn't think that she would be so caught up over a name, it was just a name, but it was a name from her other, a keepsake, one of the few thing that connected her to any form of family.

"Well introduce yourself to the class, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, the works," he seemed like a ' get to business' kind of guy, no beating around the bush, Naruto could work with that. She smiled at the self introduction topics, being the exact same ones Kakashi had made her say. She decided to not give too much away and just copied her original speech.

"Well, I like ramen, I dislike the time it takes for ramen to cook, my hobbies are pulling pranks—" the teacher narrowed his eyes in annoyance, not wanting to deal with someone interrupting his class with pointless pranks "—and my..Future dream, is to be the greatest Hokage, someone to be respected, someone to pass the on the Will of Fire, someone to protect the village," Naruto stopped, realising she'd began to rant. The teacher stared down at the young girl, watching her closely, ushering her to an empty seat in the second row.

The man, Kobayashi Ken, looked suspiciously at his new student as he began the lesson. The beginning of her introduction seemed very scripted and routine, like the regurgitation of a definition. Her true colours shined slightly when she spoke of her dreams, however she had stopped herself abruptly when she realised. Ramen is just food, with no emotional attachments or feelings, he felt as if she didn't quite believe that 'likes and 'dislikes' could refer to actual people. He felt as if her words were resigned and almost defeated, as if she doesn't expect to become fond of people, or for people to become fond of her.

Maybe subconsciously, Naruto thought she was alone, or maybe she really was alone, the only things keeping her company were food and fun. However despite the beginning of her introduction which gave absolutely nothing away, the end of her speech confused him. He did not know where the girl came from, he'd never heard of the Uzumi clan in his life, perhaps she wasn't from fire country, and yet she so dearly wanted to protect it. He didn't quite believe she truly wanted to be Hokage; it seemed more like the beginning, the regurgitation of something that had been planted in her brain. It's as if her dreams had changed, and she didn't realise it until half way through her speech. This was going to be an interesting semester.

xXxXx

To Naruto's surprise, she had managed to make a friend within the first few minutes after class, and to some of the last people she thought she'd ever meet or see again. The first was Uchiha Obito. Unfortunately for everyone in the school, the two loudmouth ninja's just seemed to have gravitated to each other, the two sat at complete opposite ends of the classroom, though as soon as the bell rang for lunch, the two became instant friends.

The second unfortunate person to join the duo, was the other incredibly loudmouth ninja, one whom most ignored in favour of keeping their eardrums intact, Might Gai. Naruto was surprised to find out that the man had in fact been wearing the same kind of spandex outfit since he was in the academy…at eight years old. She almost dreaded ever meeting the parents or guardians that allowed it.

Naruto knew that teams were made up of three people and a Jounin sensei, and the three Genin generally consisted of two boys and one girl…which their trio was. She knew it wouldn't happen, as Naruto was planning to demand the Hokage that the Uchiha and Kakashi definitely were part of the Genin team, as she knew that he would eventually help break Kakashi from his bratty 'Shinobi life by the rules' personality. She didn't know how it happened, as Kakashi wasn't one to share personal information, however she did know he was one of the people he always visited at the memorial stone, as he sometimes spoke to the boy out loud without realising.

Naruto did however get a sickeningly sweet satisfaction from the idea of Obito, Gai and herself being on the same team, the three loudest ninja in all of Konoha. Oh what hell would ensue.

xXxXx

Thank you again to everyone that has read, reviewed, favourited (not a word), and added me to their alert subscription. It really means a lot to me that you guys are enjoying the story.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!


	5. Chapter 5: Nine

I got a review saying that there wasn't enough KakaNaru in this, and I do apologise for that, but I had to build up my story and introduce characters and relationships before I could start getting onto that good stuff.

Well here is my longest chapter yet. There were a few times where I could've stopped and uploaded it, but you guys deserve more. Plus, I think I am the most impatient out of everyone to get to when Naruto and Kakashi are at least 16…Oh how I look forward to it…there will be so much giggling from me as I embarrass Kakashi in some way.

ENJOY

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Chapter 5: Nine

Rules are the customary or normal circumstance, occurrence, manner, practice, quality; it's the principle or regulation governing conduct, action, procedure, arrangement…and because of Konoha's laws, Naruto was stuck in the academy to re-graduate in order to become a Shinobi again. She didn't want to complain, because she really did manage to make a lot of friends, she had even run into Rin on their first day, since she had only been in the class next door, which turned out to be the same glass as Gai. Naruto had to admit, that despite having to learn, do tests and deal with the crying of the younger students when they got hurt, she had enjoyed her second attempt at the academy. In academics, she managed to finish in the middle of the middle of the class; she didn't mind, she was happy, a great improvement from her first try.

Martial arts and ninjutsu were so incredibly easy to adapt to in her new body—much to her surprise. Naruto touched her stomach; her chakra had been gradually building up, however it would take a few years before she could get close to her monstrous chakra reserves from the future.

She remembered back to her conversations with Kurama, he had been the main reason she'd been able to adapt so easily. He had helped her majorly, warning her when she was trying to use more chakra than she could generate in her current state. She didn't know how to react when she'd realised there were times when he seemed very far away, as if she just couldn't reach him in their mindscape. She'd soon found out that the seal on herself and the seal on Kushina had joined, however hers was much more powerful and was slowly destroying the link between them, which eventually resulted in Kushina no longer being the Kyūbi Jinchūriki after about one and a half months.

Naruto had found out through stalking the young woman that for the first month of Naruto's arrival she had fallen very ill, which Kurama explained to Naruto was due to the gradual removal of his chakra from her seal. She had recovered however, Naruto had watched over her at night, afraid the woman would die as all Jinchūriki's did if their occupant were removed. She was glad however to see the woman gradually grow better and back to her normal strength, under the watchful eye of her very devoted boyfriend as well as Naruto herself.

Naruto had soon after began to wonder what would happen upon her birth, would the baby be her? If so, would their souls combine or would the strongest win like the seals of the Kyūbi had? She hadn't really thought further on it however, as she really had no idea what could possibly occur, she just didn't consider herself smart enough to figure it out, and it just caused her unneeded stress.

She looked up when she heard her teacher call her name, Naruto smiled as she saw Obito run to his cousins outside with a blue forehead protector proudly tied around his head. She confidently walked into the small room, her hands clasped behind her back, a bounce in her steps. Naruto stood in front of the three Chūnin's, ready to be assessed.

"Please perform a Bunshin," Naruto smiled, placing her hands in a cross seal before performing her technique.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu," four clones were created, two standing each side of her. Throughout Naruto's time at the academy, the teachers had soon learned that Naruto's chakra was just much too large for her to condense into a normal Bunshin. She'd pretended to see the Hokage for help and came back the next day with the Kage Bunshin to learn. She felt good being able to use the technique without questions; it was a technique that had started her life as a ninja after all.

She completed the rest of the tests without fail, carrying out all the tasks set with ease. Naruto was excited, ecstatic even when they placed the blue material in her hands, the metal with the leaf symbol shined back at her, reflecting light in her eyes. Despite being her second time at the academy, it was her first time technically passing the exam and graduating. She would never forget her first 'graduation', it was a bitter yet sweet memory for her, but the happiness she felt at this moment was very fitting for a child of her age, so she let it ride out naturally.

She ran out the academy doors with a giant cheek-splitting grin on her face. Naruto stopped quickly outside the doors however when she noticed all the smiling families, their happy voices overbearingly loud as they congratulated their children. Even Obito's parents were present, something she didn't imagine would ever happen, and by the thrilled look on his face, neither did he.

Naruto pulled back her shoulders and kept a tight smile on her face before making a beeline for her swing. She smirked at the irony, she may have graduated normally this time, but nothing had changed, she was just as alone as the first time as she sat on the out of the way swing, watching the happy families. The biting pain in her chest was bearable, she'd gotten used to the raging jealousy she felt towards her classmates, however it had been a few years since she'd felt the unwanted emotion like this. In the future she had met her parents, so she felt she had a family with her at all times, but she'd also managed to gain friends, she'd made her own family out of all the villagers, especially her teammates. Jiraiya, Old man Hokage, Tsunade, Sakura, Kakashi, they were her family, and she hadn't met any of them besides Sarutobi, she felt like she really had reverted back to when she was a little girl, crying over the loneliness.

"Congratulations on graduating," Naruto spun around on her swing; she hadn't been paying attention and therefore hadn't heard the person—or in this case persons—approach behind her. Gripping the ropes, she steadied herself before widening her eyes. Standing by the fence of the academy was none other than Namikaze Minato, beside him his stoic sidekick Kakashi, looking very unhappy to be there with his arms crossed against his chest, head turned to the entrance as if ready to run out.

"Um, thank you Shinobi-san," Naruto was unsure of how to address her going to be father, she wasn't really meant to know his name, saying it would involve thinking up a reason on why she knew it. Minato laughed and sat down next to the swing, dragging the unmoving Kakashi next to him, forcing him to sit on his other side.

"No need for that language, you're a Shinobi of Konoha as well, eh Shinobi-chan?" Naruto smiled back, her mood lightening considerably. Since Minato was technically her father, she felt elated at the fact that he was congratulating her for graduating; it was like a dream come true.

"The name's Uzumi Naruto, nice to meet you!" Naruto smiled extending her hand to Minato, laughing lightly when he grasped her hand and shook it in a mock serious matter.

"And I'm Namikaze Minato, pleasure to meet you young miss," Naruto really did feel like a little girl at that point as she laughed innocently, subconsciously swinging her legs back and forth on the swing. Letting go of Naruto's hand, Minato lashed out to his right with lightning speed as he grabbed Kakashi's neck in a headlock, catching him before he was able to react and get away from his sadistic sensei.

"And this sour puss, is Hatake Kakashi, introduce yourself," Kakashi fought with all his might to get away from the teenager as he began to press his knuckles into the young boys skull, rubbing violently. Naruto winced, now _that_ was a noogie she never intended to receive. Kakashi finally managed to break free from the noogie, quickly moving away from Minato, sitting on Naruto's left. She smirked; his strategy skills were good, putting an innocent child as a barrier between his enemy and himself, she could just see his bright future, she chuckled humourlessly, _pun intended_ she thought as she turned to Kakashi expectantly.

Kakashi just looked forward, his back hunched, the muscles tightened in anticipation as he watched Minato out of the corner of his eye. He looked up to Naruto briefly in annoyance before huffing and turning his head to her completely.

"What?" Naruto's wides widened in mock shock before turning to Minato, a hand pressed against her chest.

"Oh goodness, sir it's a miracle, the boy can speak!" Minato smiled before plastering a look of shock on his face, pressing the back of his hand against his forehead, falling backwards in the grass. Naruto stood and turned around; she leaned down and laid her stomach across the swing, her legs swinging her back and forth as her arms dangled in front of her.

Naruto swung her hand out to hit Kakashi on the arm casually, only for the boy to avoid the jab, leaning to the left slightly not disrupting his position on the grass, eyes still locked in the direction of the gate.

"Kakashi help the man, he's fainted!" Naruto laughed, watching as Minato stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth, "Oh no quick, he will die of the shock!" Kakashi huffed and looked ahead of him, not acknowledging the two idiots beside him. Kakashi was suddenly knocked forward; catching himself before his face brutally planted itself in the dirt.

"You're a ninja, help the dying," Minato said, his leg extended in Kakashi's direction. The boy looked from his sensei to a laughing Naruto, his anger building up, trying to repress it; he didn't want to show emotions over such a stupid situation.

"I made a critical calculation for the circumstance, it was obviously an act, and therefore I decided against coming to your aide," Kakashi finished, slightly humouring the man. Minato propped himself up on his elbows looked over to Kakashi disappointedly.

"You're no fun, you know that?" Naruto beat the elder blonde to poking at Kakashi, as he had just been about to say the exact same thing, causing him to smile at the girl.

"So Naruto, why are you sitting over here all by yourself? You should be excited, you just graduated the academy, no more school tests and homework," Minato opted against glorifying the ninja profession by congratulating her of becoming one step closer to being a killer, and instead welcomed her to the life free of written exams. Ninja's were made originally to protect their homes, then villages, and later moving onto just whoever could pay. Naruto smiled sadly down at Minato, noticing this, Kakashi turned his head minutely in her direction.

"It's just always been this way I guess—" she sighed, standing up and sitting back on the swing, her back turned to the other graduates as she faced Minato with her head slightly bowed. "—Both my parents died barely even an hour after I was born, I am used to being alone for things like this," Kakashi's head had bowed when he heard her parents had died, he could in a way relate to her, however he had had a father, but had him taken from him. If her parents had died before she could even get to know them, then she couldn't possibly know the pain.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but from orphan to orphan, just know it gets better," Minato extended his hand to her and squeezed hers slightly in encouragement. Kakashi's brow furrowed as he turned to Naruto fully now, looking at her with suspicion.

"How did you survive as a baby then?" Minato looked to Kakashi in slight annoyance, though he could see Kakashi didn't mean to be harsh and was just curious, he didn't need to be so blunt.

"Well, my…town took care of me. But it took a lot to protect me, because there were a lot of people in that town that wanted me dead—" both Kakashi and Minato looked at the girl in shock, Kakashi hiding his emotion quickly as he looked to his sensei in confusion. "—let's just compare it to a situation like, a very notorious ninja had a child, or just a very powerful ninja had a child. There will most likely be a lot of people he has hurt throughout his life doing his job. Imagine this Minato. Pretend you became extremely powerful, and a lot of people wanted you dead because of it, such as in a time of war. You would have a lot of enemies, if you had a child and then died, no longer being able to protect them; the kid would be targeted pretty badly,"

"So your parents were powerful, and people targeted you as an outlet because they were no longer able to kill them themselves," Kakashi stated, ignoring Minato's pointed look.

"That's definitely part of it," Naruto smiled. She wasn't technically lying, if people knew she was Minato's daughter she definitely would've been targeted. It's just that it was maybe 0.001%, and maybe a few more zeros, of why people wanted to kill her. "My Godfather took me in for a few years when it started getting bad; he taught me his awesome ninja moves! Helped me through some things…but he died. So here I am, in Konoha" Kakashi looked down then, '_so she does know how it feels to lose someone'_ he thought, scratching a smudge on his pants, looking for something to do.

"Well Naruto, don't feel alone any longer. Soon you'll be put on a team and you'll build bonds with people you never thought you would. I've been asked to take a team this year despite being only eighteen, just know that I would be proud to have you on my team, and even if you're not, make sure you're not a stranger!" Minato exclaimed as he began to stand from his position on the ground, Kakashi instantly standing with him showing his eagerness to leave. Naruto nodded and smiled, waving to the man and is apprentice as they finally began to leave. Once they'd left her sight she lowered her hand and suddenly narrowed her eyes in the direction they'd left. '_What the hell were they doing at the academy?'_ she thought, rising from the swing. Dusting off her pants although there was nothing there, she looked up to notice that the academy was completely deserted, she hadn't even realised that everyone had left.

Shrugging, she made her way to her apartment, completely unaware, that her entire encounter had been completely and creepily eavesdropped on. Sarutobi sat back in his chair, the crystal ball he'd been gazing into suddenly clouding over until it was frosted and unmoving. The Hokage sighed as he tapped his fingers against the desk, a smile playing at his lips.

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The next day, Naruto sat in her usual position in the second row, listening as Obito spoke animatedly about how his family had actually held a celebration dinner in his name. She felt happy for him; he had finally begun to discard the title of the disgrace of the family as he moved up in the ranks. She listened tentatively, hoping he wouldn't ask how she had spent her night celebrating, since all she'd done was go home, eat instant noodles and go to bed.

Naruto split her attention, listening to the happy chatter of the children all around the room. She noticed Rin in the far corner with three other girls, they were loud as they showed each other their forehead protectors and the new ninja clothes and tools their parents bought them as a graduation gift.

"Did you hear? Because Naruto joined later in the year, there is going to be an odd number of students!" Naruto winced slightly at her name, not sure what was going to happen. However the girl speaking shushed the other girls' complaints, her smile never leaving her face. "No it's a good thing! Namikaze-san has been asked to take a team this year—" all bar one of the girls brightened at this. Naruto was confused; did they have a creepy idol crush on Minato? Her face scrunched up in disgust at the thought, it just felt wrong to think about.

"I don't get it, what's so good about that? Sure he is hot and an awesome ninja, but he is like, nine years older than us. Plus, he is going out with Uzumaki Kushina! She's so cool, the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero!" The other girls agreed with her, putting in their own opinion of Kushina. Naruto smirked, at the last comment, deciding to pointedly ignore that she said her father was hot. She couldn't deny that he was in fact very attractive, but she didn't have to like hearing it.

"No you idiot, Namikaze-san's apprentice is Hatake Kakashi! And he was asked to take three students from the academy this year as well as keep Hatake-san as an apprentice! It'll be a five man genin squad! Namikaze-san, Hatake-san, one boy and two girls from our graduating class, because there's an extra girl! We could be on the same team as Hatake-san!" to Naruto's horror, the girls all began to squeal _quietly_—thank god—excited that not only one, but two of them would be on Kakashi's team. She never has, and never will understand the minds of fan girls. Naruto was confused however, this is completely different to how it was supposed to happen, Rin, Obito and Kakashi were supposed to be on a team together, as Kakashi was meant to be demoted from his apprenticeship in order to be a part of an actual team. _What the hell is Oji-san up to?_ Thought Naruto, rubbing her hands over her face, she was brought out of her reverie however with a hand waving furiously in front of her eyes.

"Hello? Did you hear a word I said?" Naruto looked over to Obito's annoyed voice, his face matching the tone exactly. She felt bad then, he had finally been acknowledged by his family and was telling her about it, and she hadn't even listened to anything after the first five minutes.

"I'm so sorry, I got lost in thought," Obito sighed and muttered a small 'it's fine' before walking to the back of the room to his seat as their teacher had just walked into the room with the roster of the new teams, calling the newly graduated ninja to silence. Unlike the future, the teams in the past before the war with Iwa, were simply named after the teams sensei. Instead of team seven, Naruto's team would have been solely known as team Kakashi instead of both, so as the teacher called the names of the teams, they were completely aware of whom their sensei was. After three teams had already been called, the teacher finally got to team Minato, raising the anticipation among most of the females in the room.

"Team Minato: Uchiha Obito—" Obito smiled when he found out he had finally been placed on a team, looking around the class to see whose names hadn't been called yet. "—Nakamura Rin—" the smile that lit the girls face was blinding as she looked to her friend next to her, their fingers crossed, hoping they'd be on the same team. The remaining girls in the room leaned forward in their seats in anticipation, confusing Naruto, she _seriously_ did not understand fan girls, they had to be from a different planet, there was no way them and her could possibly be of the same species. "—and Uzumi Naruto," there were several groans throughout the class, Rin and her friend's shoulders slumped as they uncrossed their fingers, frowns of disappointment forming on their faces.

Naruto however was shocked; this was _not_ how she expected the teams to work out. Oji-san had put her on a team with her father and her future sensei, the first girl 'her age' she had met in the past, and her best friend in the academy. And somehow it all just fit together; Kakashi's original team had been put together as usual, but with her as an extra. She just couldn't figure out what the old man was up to. She didn't pay attention to any of the other teams formed, only coming out of her zoned out state when Gai suddenly jumped up, claiming his might and the amounts of training he'll do with his new team. He was placed with an Aburame boy and a branch member of the Hyūga clan, balancing his overly excessive loudness with two quiet teammates, even their Sensei was a Hyūga—one she'd never seen or heard of however. She understood now why Gai had been placed as the Sensei of Neji, he obviously had a lot of experience with Hyūga's and their techniques, therefore being considered capable of training one.

Gai was soon silenced and the class continued quietly, causing for Naruto to once again begin zoning out, thinking of how much this could change the future. There were so many possibilities, this could make or break the future, or it could do absolutely nothing, Naruto finally settled on the fact that she was just thinking too hard, something she'd been doing much too often lately. She breathed in and out deeply calming herself like she used to before entering sage mode. She decided that she'd just do what she would have done as herself in the future, just play it out in her normal enthusiastic way and see how it all went; she'd do everything within her power to make sure it all worked out for the better.

Assigning the teams ended fairly quickly after that, the sensei's then came into the room in order of assignment to collect their new apprentices. As their team was called fairly early on the roster, it wasn't long until Minato showed up, the aloof Kakashi by his side. Two girls to Naruto's left giggled and pointed to the pair, the shining smile on Minato's face and the emotionless eyes of Kakashi drawing the class' attention.

"Team Minato," the teacher called, watching as the trio began to stand. Minato didn't seem at all surprised by Naruto's appearance on his team; he'd practically demanded the Hokage to place her with him. To him, she seemed like a breath of fresh air, she seemed so innocent and carefree, despite obviously already seeing the cruel side of the Shinobi profession, she seemed as if she would not be as affected, and much easier to train and get along with than genin's usually were because of this.

After he'd thought his reasons, he'd realised what a selfish request it was, he felt guilty in a way, it seemed as if he asked for her simply because she'd be easy to console after witnessing death or after her first kill since she'd been through so much already. He however repressed the feeling of guilt when he thought back to the conversation he'd had with the girl the day before, he just felt a connection as if he just had to get to know her, to protect her, so he didn't regret the request, and the Hokage was almost too willing to grant it anyway.

Rin, Naruto and Obito bounded down the steps towards the front of the room respectively, ready to meet their new sensei. Minato greeted them with a giant smile, signalling for them to follow along. Naruto felt nostalgic as he led them to the roof of the academy, the bright sun still rising in the sky. Minato stood at the railing; the exact spot Kakashi had stood for her first meeting with team seven in the future. Kakashi went to stand beside him to look down at the three genin in front of him before being violently pushed back to stand in front of Minato with the rest of the team, taking a place on Naruto's left. Naruto smirked at his annoyed posture, the slight embarrassment shined through his eyes. When he realised Naruto had seen him showing emotion, he quickly masked it again and looked forward to his sensei.

"Alright! Congratulations for graduating, you four are now all a part of team Minato, now let's start with some introductions—" Minato 'ummed' slightly, tilting his head back as he thought of what to say. "–okay, I'm Namikaze Minato, I like my girlfriends cooking, I dislike lying—" Naruto winced slightly, masking it by brushing away an invisible fly "—my dream for the future is that everyone in the village acknowledges me and to become a great Hokage! And as for hobbies, I like to read and make new jutsu," as time went on Naruto began to notice just how much of Kakashi's own team experiences he used for her team seven, causing her to smile at the memories.

Everyone's introductions were very similar and routine, even Kakashi's was exactly as she remembered, giving barely anything away with a simple, "_I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes…My dreams for the future…hmm…As for my hobbies…I like training_". Minato had simply rolled his eyes at the boy as Rin and Obito both looked to him with confused expressions.

"Why don't we go out for some BBQ to celebrate?" Rin eventually suggested, looking from her new sensei to her teammates. Naruto noticed out of the corner of her eye as Kakashi began to object. Without hesitation, Naruto slashed out to her side, grabbing firmly onto Kakashi's arm. Both Minato and Kakashi looked to Naruto in wonder, surprised and incredulous respectively over how easily Naruto had managed to catch Kakashi, a _Chūnin_.

"Great idea Rin!" She began walking, dragging a speechless Kakashi behind her, followed closely by a smiling Minato, Rin and Obito falling into step with her not long after. Kakashi glared daggers at the girl, her grip on his arm was excruciatingly and unnecessarily tight, he didn't dare run because Minato would have simply caught him easily and dragged him back to the group, which would have only served to embarrass him further. Kakashi clenched his fist, cursing at the girl, promising himself that he'd make her regret this.

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DONE! I was going to continue and write a little about how the lunch went, but I decided against it because I really want to post another chapter, but I can't continue writing tonight because I have homework that needs doing.

Well I really hope that you enjoyed and I would like to thank everyone again, and sorry to all the people who actually thought that I would put Obito, Gai and Naruto on a team. There is no way in hell I have enough energy for that, plus, I am a big fan of keeping teams relatively cannon. I don't really like it when the stories break up teams, especially when they change sensei's entirely.

Sorry for the rant, HOPE YOU ENJOYED!


	6. Chapter 6: Nine

I haven't forgotten :) just been super busy. August and September are when I have my most important tests for school in Queensland, we graduate High School early November, so first week in September I am doing my test to determine my 'Overall Position' (OP) in order to get into universities so I'll be busy. I will try to update when I can though. ENJOY

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"Naruto in position B,"

"Kakashi, position A," The two voices crackled loudly through the members earpieces almost simultaneously. The static that rang after their voices was deafening as the two ninja looked to each other, only twenty metres apart. Naruto signalled to Kakashi that she was in ready position, watching as he signalled back.

"Obito position C," His voice was out of breath, his panting heard over the loud static that followed. Naruto pressed the earpiece further into her ear, a grimace contorting her face. The ones from her time were so much more advanced, this one she just felt like ripping from her ear, throwing on the ground and continuously stomping on until it broke, which she doubted would take long at all.

"Rin in position D," the girls voice was laboured, her loud wheezing more noticeable than Obito's had been. Naruto looked over to Kakashi, rolling her eyes and shaking her head to the boy, a smile playing on her lips as she listened to her two teammate's loud gasps. Kakashi looked back to her, showing no emotion, though Naruto could tell that he agreed, and if he allowed himself too, would probably have been the first to laugh at his teammates.

"Rin, Obito, too slow," Minato's stern voice could only just be heard over the loud static ringing in the teams ears, the earpieces working slightly better now that they had moved slightly closer to one another.

"I'm ready to rumble, target is in sight, I repeat…I'm ready to rumble" Naruto almost laughed into her microphone, as she crouched lower watching as the target walked towards herself and Kakashi.

"Target sighted between points A and B," Kakashi's uniform voice was monotone. Kakashi moved lower to the ground, making sure to stay out of the wind for fear of his scent travelling to the target. The target stopped, cautiously looking around as the wind stilled, Kakashi felt impatient as he waited for the signal, digging his fingers into the ground in anticipation. He looked to Naruto's position, unable to see her, _'good,'_ he thought. He had been every impressed with his blonde teammate's skills over the past few weeks since the formation of their team, however he still found her to be one of the most irritating people on the face of the planet, right after his sensei…and Kushina, Kushina was definitely up there. To Kakashi, Naruto seemed like a mixture of Kushina and Minato's personalities, and it just irked him to no ends, despite being so skilled, she was _loud_, and there is no way humanly possible that a ninja can be loud and live…and wear orange, just the thought of the colour made him cringe. Kakashi sighed, the noise masked by the mask that lay across his lower face, he didn't understand her love of wearing the colour orange, it was much too conspicuous for a ninja, and would definitely get her killed one day.

Kakashi grit his teeth in anger at losing his focus of the mission. He clenched his fists, irritated that he'd been contemplating the irritating mess of orange that was his teammate over the completion of the mission. He promised to punish himself later for being so careless, shoving the thought into the back of his mind when he heard his sensei's voice in his ear.

"Naruto and Kakashi, you're the front, Obito, you're backup, Rin, stay tuned for any injuries-" the man waited as he heard all four of his students confirmations, "-okay…Go!" Naruto and Kakashi instantly surged forward, the target jumping in surprise, not sure which way to run as the two ninja's charged from each side. Naruto watched Kakashi out of the corner of her eye as she pushed forward, watching as the targets muscles tensed, ready to escape. He rushed forward, but to no avail.

Naruto dug her feet into the ground and cupped her hands in front of her as Kakashi soared down towards her unable to stop in midair. His foot planted into Naruto's hands, she pumped chakra through her limps to support herself, a grunt escaping her throat as she strained to keep him in the air. Pushing her arms to her right she propelled Kakashi after the target, crying out as his harsh chakra burst from the soles of his feet for momentum, burning the palms of her hands.

Kakashi soared through the air with incredible speed from the mixture and force of both his and Naruto's chakra. The air propelled past him as if he were in an air tunnel, the feeling of the wind reminding him of that night the year before when the _thing_ had fallen from the sky, his hair flat top his head. Stretching out his arms, he tackled the target from behind, restraining him as well as he could as he fought for freedom. Naruto caught up to him faster than he thought was humanly possible, gripping the targets kicking legs, securing them until he could no longer move.

"Target secured, I repeat, we got the damn dog," Naruto winced as the large bulldogs short fur grazed against her burnt hands, each hair feeling like a newly sharpened razor against the tender skin. Minato appeared not long after, followed closely by the two remaining members of team Minato, said man stopped when he saw his students. Kakashi lay on the ground, his arms and legs wrapped around the giant bulldog puppy, Naruto leaning on top of the dog securing the hind legs between her thighs, its forelegs entrapped in her hands.

"You know Naruto—" said Minato as he walked forward slightly "—I have this feeling that you don't quite understand just what part of what you say is meant to be repeated, as well as how to actually repeat it. It's—" Minato was suddenly cut off when the dog suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, Kakashi's chakra unexpectedly cutting off from the summoning ninken. Naruto squealed as she suddenly fell, not expected for the weight below her to suddenly disappear. The two ninja's grunted as she collided with Kakashi, their faces smashing together, the metal of their forehead protectors absorbing most of the impact. Naruto groaned as she rolled off her late sensei, rubbing the back of her nose with her wrist as it began to throb. Kakashi scowled as he glared at his blonde teammate, cradling his own nose with one of his hands.

The two ninja both turned with a scowl on their faces when their sensei began to roar with laughter, Obito cracking not long after. Rin stood quietly with a slight smile on her face, glancing jealously from Naruto to Kakashi. She didn't exactly want her face smashed into Kakashi's so violently, but she did envy the twos proximity. She admitted that she had a small crush on their teammate, but she was also jealous of the other girl of their team. Naruto was scarily good, although her chakra control was appalling sometimes; the girl had somehow managed to become a good enough Shinobi to be on par with Kakashi, a _Chūnin_.

Rin sighed as she looked down to the other girl, although she was jealous of her, she was fond of the girl. Naruto's bright smile and encouragement had made the harsh training almost fun, she had even given Rin some advice on a way to use her slight knowledge of medical ninjutsu in battle. Naruto however barely knew what she was talking about; she understood the basics though as she remembered back to what Sakura had told her about—what can only be described as gruesome—training with Tsunade.

Rin suddenly looked to Naruto, suspicious of the way she was avoiding all contact with the palms of her hands. She focused all her attention on her teammate then, trying to catch a glimpse of the girl's palms, not succeeding as she continued attempting to hide them. Naruto stood using only her legs as she brushed off her pants like she usually did, though changing the position of her hands, painfully curling them into fists to use the back of her fingers.

"Show me your hands Naruto," Rin said sternly, authority dripping from every word. Minato stopped laughing at Kakashi's annoyed face, turning his eyes to Rin before glancing at Naruto's clenched fists. His eyes hardened, looking up to Naruto, seeing the panic on her face before she was able to hide it completely from him.

"There's nothing wrong with my hands," Naruto smiled and laughed it off proceeding to turn and walk in the opposite direction.

"Naruto," She stopped at Minato's firm voice, turning her head slowly to see all eyes on her, or more precisely her hands.

"I'm telling you they're fine! They'll be healed completely by tomorrow" Naruto whined as she turned completely then and looked exasperatedly at her teammates.

"Why don't you give them to Rin now and she'll heal them in minutes as opposed to your so called hours," Minato said, his voice still unyielding. Naruto breathed heavily with a sigh, looking away wearily as she held her hands out before her. Her shoulders hunched more when she heard Rin's gasp as her palms were inspected, she knew they were already partly healed making her glad that they hadn't seen the state of them when Kakashi's chakra had first burnt them.

"Naruto these are serious chakra burns! They could easily get infected if they're not treated," Rin scolded the girl in front of her, worried when Naruto bent her head down and looked away, not showing any other signs that she had heard what Rin had said.

"Naruto, why were you hiding them from us? There is no shame in being injured," Minato said reassuringly as he crouched down to Naruto's level, using his hand to lift her head, making their faces level to one another. Naruto kept her eyes locked on a tree to her left, refusing to look into her father's/sensei's eyes. She wasn't ashamed of being injured; she was more scared of the questions that would follow her remarkable healing abilities, she also didn't want to get Kakashi into trouble, she was finding it hard enough to earn his trust, and snitching on him wasn't going to help any. After the introductions when Minato had voiced his dislike for lying, Naruto had tried to avoid absolutely everything that would involve her having to come up with a lie to hide the truth about herself.

"I'm not ashamed," the words left her mouth before she could think, she almost kicked herself. She should have played it off as her actually being ashamed of being injured, she cringed as she realised that she'd now probably have to come up with a lie.

"Then why Naruto?" he extended his arm forward towards his student only to have her brush him away, stepping away to avoid meeting Minato's worried eyes.

"Just because! It's not important, let's just drop it!" Naruto turned around, disappointed with herself when she'd seen the hurt in Minato's eyes. She began walking quickly away from the group and away from the training grounds, headed towards the familiar walls of Konoha's city. She groaned when she felt the familiar stinging sensation of tears threatening to build up under her eyelids. She wiped her eyes as quickly as possible; ceasing the offending liquid before it even had the chance to form. Yet another downfall of being forced into her younger body, she didn't have as much control over her tears as what she'd taught herself when she'd gotten older. That look on her father's face had almost shattered her resolve, she just wanted to crawl into his arms and tell him everything, but she couldn't, that just wasn't something that a student usually did—granted she had actually forced Kakashi into hugs before. She wanted a hug so desperately now, or anything to remind her that she wasn't alone, despite her family being alive in this time, they had no idea who she was, so in some aspects, she felt more alone than she had the first time around. However she knew she wasn't completely alone, she had more friends now than what she had when she was nine years old the first time, but the fact that her parents were so close to her without them even knowing, and that there was nothing that she could do about that fact tore her up inside.

She'd completely panicked when Minato had shown worry for her, she really felt her physical age right then and there, like a little girl as her father fussed over her wellbeing. She wanted that scenario to be real so bad that she just couldn't be there any longer, she had to compose herself and then she'd be fine again, her usual happy self. She finally decided that for this to work with her nine year old emotions, she'd just have to stop referring in her head to Minato as her father, as it just made it harder to not tackle him to the ground and blurt out all the hardships in her life, maybe even slap him again like she'd done when she'd met him in her mindscape that time of the Pain attack.

Naruto jumped when she heard a stick break behind her, she turned quickly to see Minato standing beside a tree, the stick below his foot deliberately broken. Just the one look at her father—she hadn't had enough time to prepare herself to not refer to him as so—brought the stinging in her eyes back full force, the tears spilling before she even had time to react. Minato stepped forward slowly and crouched to the ground, waving his hand to her in an invitation to come closer. Naruto's sob got caught in her throat, lately Minato had just been there for her, as if he could read her mind, that time at her academy graduation and now, right when she felt so alone. Without even an ounce of hesitation she ran into the man arms and buried her face in his shoulder, her arms wrapping around his neck, ignoring the burns on her hands.

Minato just hugged back, he didn't understand why Naruto had reacted the way she had. She'd made it completely clear that she wasn't ashamed of being injured, so he didn't understand why she'd hide her burns from them. He did however recognise the loneliness in her eyes when she'd turned away, he'd seen it in Kakashi many times right before and after his father's death, and he'd seen it many times when he'd looked in the mirror when he was younger. It was times like these when he remembered just how young his students really were, being so young but being pushed into the life of an assassin. He began to take back his thoughts from a few weeks ago, just because Naruto had already seen the hard parts of being a ninja, he realised she still wasn't immune to it, which he actually felt thankful for, one Kakashi was enough, two would've been hell, especially if one of them was as loud as she was.

He didn't ask her what was wrong, opting to let her use him as a support as she cried. After the incident at Naruto's graduation when she had told him her painful background due to a question he asked, he no longer liked freely speaking about others' pasts. He guessed that this probably had something to do with her past and therefore stayed silent. He would do anything to protect his students, it'd only been a few weeks, but they all already felt like family to him, they were all his little brothers and sisters, his children, and he would do everything in his power, everything humanly possible to protect them, even if that protection was just a simple hug.

xXxXx

A week later the group stood before the panel desk as they read through the missions available. The teacher of the latest graduation class sat next to the Hokage, numerous other Shinobi sat at the long rounded table, most of which Naruto didn't know. A Chūnin team stood to their left receiving a new mission as the Inu-Shika-Chō trio of this time period stood to her right, their sensei standing tall beside them. Inoichi glanced to Naruto out of the corner of his eye to see the girl smiling brightly back at him and waving slightly. He smirked and looked to his teammate Shikaku who glanced between the two before sighing and looking away, not bothering to question how he knew the girl.

Inoichi decided to humour the girl and waved back with mock excitement, earning a fake glare back at his real lack of enthusiasm. He glanced over to Minato to find him looking at him with a raised eyebrow, a small smile dancing across his lips. Inoichi straightened immediately and cleared his throat, stealing glances over to the team on his left.

He had never really gotten the chance to get to know Minato well; he was only one year older than himself, however in the academy the different age groups rarely mixed together. Minato had graduated a year earlier while Inoichi was still only nine, even in the academy Minato was known as a promising Shinobi, so everyone from his grade had looked up to the blonde boy. It wasn't surprising at all to see him manning a genin squad at only eighteen, and with four genin's as opposed to the usual three to top it off.

Inoichi didn't envy the older blonde though; he doubted he'd ever want an actual genin squad of his own. He loved children and that was exactly why, if one of them were to die under his watch or because he didn't train them well enough, it would rip him apart with guilt. Therefore he respected all who decided to take on the roll of a genin instructor.

Even though they were only a year apart—one day under a year to be precise as his birthday was the day before the elder blondes—it felt as if Minato was much bigger than himself. The two boys were very similar physically; Minato had a much larger presence than anyone he had ever known. However after meeting his future daughter, who currently stood in front of him, beholding a new blinding smile, he knew that she had enormous potential to surpass him in that field.

Naruto turned her head when she heard the Hokage clear his throat, lifting a piece of paper in front of his eyes, inspecting it before he flipped it over to present to her team.

"You've been on quite a few D rank missions lately; I think you've built up your teamwork enough to try something a little more serious," The Hokage smirked slightly as he glanced to Naruto, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. Obito smiled at the news, absolutely ecstatic that they would finally be going on harder missions, saying goodbye to the gardening and housekeeping, and saying hello to the real life of a Shinobi. Even Rin looked excited at the idea of higher ranking missions, Kakashi however was indifferent as he had been on C and B rank missions before, though a skilled Shinobi would have been able to recognise his relief at finally being able to ditch the D rank missions.

Minato raised his eyebrows, noticing the smirk on the Hokage's face. He was unsure whether the look should have made him uneasy or relaxed, especially since it was aimed almost directly at Naruto.

"This is an escort mission of a merchant and his son to the River Country that separates us from Suna's Country of Wind. He has a heavy cargo that he is scared will be a very welcoming target for bandits," Naruto's face was blank, she didn't know that the old man had actually had a sense of humour. He must have seen this mission and instantly thought of the hilarity of Naruto's first C rank mission of both her lives being an escort mission; however she hoped that this time it wouldn't go completely and utterly wrong.

"It's just a simple escort right? No crazy ass ninja's targeting the client?" The Hokage smiled and lowered his head slightly, the shadow of his hat cloaking his eyes. Everyone else in the room that had overheard the conversation looked to Naruto in confusion.

"Well there is always the chance that the client has lied in order to pay less for the mission, however we must go on how much the man has told us, and by what I have read, he simply is just scared that his carriage will attract the attention of bandits as he moves around," Naruto raised her eyebrow and smirked at the man as another genin team came in behind her, waiting in line in order to pick up a mission for themselves.

"Well it looks like we're causing some congestion; we'll gladly accept the mission Hokage-sama," Minato walked forward and accepted the mission scroll from the man, bowing slightly as he took it before turning to his students and ushering them outside.

"What was with the question to Hokage-sama and how do you know that Yamanaka guy?" Obito's questions were quick, without pause. Naruto simply laughed trying to hide her discomfort, thinking of a possible way of answering his questions without lying.

"Well, I just wanted to be sure that the mission was completely what it is said to be, nothing hiding underneath you know? And as for Yamanaka Inoichi, well he was one of the first people I spoke with when I came to Konoha," Naruto was happy with her answers, she had managed to not lie while giving very little information away. Kakashi's eyebrow raised, disappearing underneath the cloth of his forehead protector as he looked to his blonde teammate, still wondering why she'd need to question a mission given to her by the Hokage…or a mission given to her in general.

"Well team, we meet our clients in an hour at office D at the east gate for a small briefing before we take off, so get your stuff together, say goodbye to the family and I'll see you there," the four genin quickly disappeared in their own directions, going to prepare for the mission ahead of them. Minato slowly strolled away in the direction of his own apartment, not in a rush, finding the building a relatively short distance—in Shinobi standards—from the Hokage tower. However his pace quickened when he remembered it was his girlfriend, Kushina's, day off today after coming home from a week long mission, just the thought of being able to see her made him hasten his steps.

xXxXx

An hour later the group stood outside of the building near the east gate containing several briefing rooms where clients occasionally briefed their hired Shinobi if they requested to do so. Naruto looked up to the bold black 'D' that had been spray painted on the door, tilting her head slightly to match the letter when she realised that it had been painted crookedly.

She yawned loudly, stretching her limbs as wide as she could as the quartet waited for their fifth member. Since coming to the past, Naruto was quick to find out a part of the reason why Kakashi had always been late. Not only was it because he was spending all his time at the memorial stone, but because it was just something Obito was known for, it had already been ten minutes since they were supposed to assemble and the boy had yet to arrive. Another ten minutes had past when the boy finally showed up, completely out of breath as he fell over his own feet, skidding to a halt in front of his team.

"Did I make it?" Obito questioned hopefully raising his head to see Kakashi's wrapped calves in front of him.

"No, you're late Obito. When did you think we were supposed to meet up? When becoming a full-fledged ninja, following the rules is common sense right?" Obito rolled his eyes as his teammate before standing and brushing off his legs and torso, dirt coating his once clean clothes.

"No, you see, while coming here, I ended up having to help an old lady who had too much luggage to cross the street—" Obito paused, scratching the back of his head, a habit much like Naruto's. The girl watched with amusement as her two teammates quarrelled, reminding her of her time with her previous team, with Naruto in Obito's position and Sasuke in Kakashi's, she'd never have guessed that the two were so similar. "—And something was in my eye…" Obito finished almost half-heartedly. They had all heard the excuse before, reminding them all of why the Uchiha wore the orange goggles, protecting his eyes from any harm before he could finally possess his clans beloved Sharingan.

"Yeah right, that's a lie isn't it?" Naruto felt like laughing, Kakashi seemed almost human has he berated their teammate, slight emotion coming through in his voice.

"Don't say that, Kakashi—" Minato finally cut in, causing the two boys to look over at him. "—you helped the old lady, didn't you Obito?" he was calm as he sat next to Rin, his back leaning against the wall of the briefing building.

"I even carried her luggage!" Obito said excitedly as he removed his goggles and proceeded to drip eye drops into his eyes. Kakashi turned slightly to their sensei and crossed his arms.

"Sensei, you're too easy on him. If he keeps acting up like this around people, they'll just be in trouble, right?—" Kakashi looked darkly to their sensei, his charcoal black eyes staring into the deep blue orbs of Minato's. "—Those who break the rules and regulations are called trash, right?" Minato smiled back sadly before laughing lightly, standing from his position on the ground.

"Can't you ever be nice sometimes?" Obito exclaimed irritably, rubbing his eyes after placing the eye drops back into his kunai pouch. "You're always bitching about these 'rules' and 'laws', and it's getting damn annoying! What matters is discipline!"

"Now, now, cut it out you two. You're on the same team you know?" Rin had stood by then, trying to stop her teammates from fighting anymore. Just as both Obito and Kakashi were about to retort to her comment, Naruto cleared her throat loudly drawing everyone's attention to the blonde girl who hadn't made any noise until now.

"You do realise that all the bitching from you guys has just caused us to be an extra two minutes late right?" Obito and Kakashi's eyes widened almost comically, both—more so Kakashi—berating themselves over causing them to even more late for their meeting with their client. Minato laughed light-heartedly, not even the slightest bit worried.

"It's okay, I told you guys to be here half an hour earlier than we actually had to be because I predicted something like this may happen," Obito's face flushed red in embarrassment as Kakashi huffed in annoyance, reverting into himself, still criticising himself for what he had just done, despite the fact that they weren't actually late.

"Well played sensei, well played," Naruto nodded her head in approval, her sensei laughing livelily in return. Rin simply rolled her eyes, smiling slightly as she looked at her team, they all had their flaws, '_some more so than others_', she thought as she pointedly glanced over to the two boys on her team, however they all completed each other in a weird dysfunctional family kind of way. The group stopped quarrelling when the client could be seen in the distance, the large cart being slowly pulled behind them. They arrived out of breath, Naruto could understand why they hired ninja, not only would they protect them from bandits, they would also offer to help pull the cart, since despite their profession, ninja's could be very impatient people at times, being so used to travelling at high speeds.

"Hello, my name is Namikaze Minato and this is my team, Obito, Rin, Kakashi and Naruto, we will be your escorts," the man looked from Minato to the young Shinobi's behind him, his brows furrowed.

"A little young don't you think? Even you—" he raised his hand waving it in Minato's direction, "—you're only what, sixteen?" Minato took no offense to the slander, smiling at the man, helping him from the cart.

"Eighteen actually, we may be young but I assure you we have a very strong group of Shinobi here, I am a Jounin, Kakashi a Chūnin and the three here are very advanced Genin's, Rin here is even an apprentice Medic Nin, and Obito is a part of the Uchiha clan and an aspiring taijutsu user," Naruto felt satisfaction as Minato praised the team, even if she didn't have a personal introduction as the others had. It didn't bother her however, she knew what Minato was doing, he was reassuring the man by showing him just how protected he was.

Addressing himself as a Jounin showed that he had an elite Shinobi protecting him, Kakashi as a Chūnin showed that he was obviously an exceptional ninja for having a higher ranking for such a young age. Rin, though not a completely qualified Medic Nin, was at least an apprentice and would have certain medical knowledge in case anything happened, and the name Uchiha was enough to scare many into submission. Naruto had no reason to be introduced, since she had nothing in this time that could possibly reassure anybody, she was no longer a Sannin, no one knew she was the Kyūbi Jinchūriki, no one even knew that she had the life energy of an Uzumaki since she had to give up her name. Until she could grow strong again and get herself out into the world, no one will know she exists, she'd simply be an enigma standing in the shadow of her team.

"And Naruto has more chakra than many of the Jounin's I know…combined, as well as an exceptional knowledge of ninjutsu, let me assure you that you are very protected," Naruto felt a flutter in her heart when he praised her, the sensation warm in her chest. The man looked to the team, their beaming faces smiling back at him…well, Kakashi more so just staring languidly.

"So, I got myself a Jounin, a Chūnin, an _apprentice_ Medic Nin, an Uchiha and some kind of chakra monster…" Naruto and Obito both deadpanned at how they were referred to, both of the usually loud ninja's choosing to actually keep their mouths shut in front of the client. Minato looked to his students in approval before chuckling.

"I assure you that you are in very capable hands," the man nodded hesitantly and looked back to the cart.

"Well come on, don't be shy. Come meet the Shinobi's," a boy of about ten years of age stepped out from the cart, walking towards his father with his head held high. The boy was very average and unmemorable, no eye-catching features like Rin's clan marks, Kakashi's mask and gravity defying silver hair, Obito's blaring orange goggles or Naruto and Minato's bright blonde hair. Naruto even thought that if Konohamaru didn't wear a scarf twice his height and was unable to speak, that this boy would still pale in comparison. She could see that he was trying to overcome this, attempting to match himself with the ninja in front of him, his head high and his shoulders pulled painfully back. He looked considerably like the man next to him, rounded brown eyes with slightly hollow cheeks and tanned skin from being constantly subjected to the suns rays. His father, a man in his early thirties with salt and pepper hair squeezed his sons shoulder and smiled sadly.

"Well I apologise but we are not yet ready, would it be okay if we were to meet here again in an hour or so? We have a few things to take care of before we leave," Minato simply smiled and nodded to the man, turning to his students.

"45 minutes, back here," he pointedly looked to Obito who pointed to himself in mock innocence, looking behind himself, earning a hit on the back of the head by Naruto, the two laughing together.

"Well since we have a little time, I have something I need to discuss with…someone. See you soon!" Naruto quickly turned and headed in the direction of the Hokage tower, not waiting for Minato's dismissal, which managed to irk Kakashi to no end for the second time that day. The elder blonde stared after the girl in confusion, the entire team still considered the girl to be a mystery. Minato could see that they girl was holding back her power, but it seemed not so much that she was hiding her skills, but that she was afraid to use them. He worried for the girl, wanting to do whatever he could to protect her, he just needed to find a way for her to feel comfortable enough to open up to him. He didn't know how he'd do it, but he'd find a way.

xXxXx

Naruto sat in the Hokage's office, but she'd had to once again fight her way through the receptionist like she had to the year before, the woman just refused to let the girl go through every time…unless she was with Minato, if Minato was with her she would probably willingly hand her her bank account details and Naruto would be the proud new owner of the woman's house.

"So how is everything? Are you enjoying your team?" Sarutobi sat in his seat, his hands clasped together in front of him on the mahogany desk.

"All is well, I do like my team, I couldn't have asked for anyone else, Kakashi's still a sour puss though, Rin's skills are getting better by the second, Obito is still his clumsy self and Dad's suspicious of me, I can just tell," The Hokage was the only person that Naruto could call Minato 'Dad', it felt nice being able to refer to him as such and jumped at every chance she got to call him so.

"So what's on your mind? What can I do for you?" the Hokage got right to the point, knowing that the girl had to be back with her team in half an hour. Naruto knew this as well and decided to cut right to the chase.

"This is killing me here, I have already resigned myself to not being able to do the Rasengan until Dad finishes making the damn thing, so there is 60% of my jutsu gone. I can't use the fox's chakra so there's a further 30% gone. All I have left is my Sage Nature Chakra, and I can't use it because I've never trained to be a sage in this time. I can't even use my Frog Kata taijutsu! I have had to use the cruddy academy taijutsu, and it sucks because I am just so much more suited and just better all together at the frog kata! Please you need to help me find a way, some kind of escuse to get to Mt Myōboku and train with old toad Fukusaku," The Hokage listened in silence as Naruto tried to finish her request as quickly as possible, trying to speed along the meeting. The aging man nodded and sat back in his seat, thinking through different scenarios before narrowing them down to a few.

"To get you to train at Mt Myōboku, we'd need to contact Jiraiya, he most likely hasn't looked in the summoning scroll since he let Minato sign it, so I doubt he'd notice whether or not your name were there. Since you are technically a summoner that has signed the contract, despite the time, the toads should be aware of your whereabouts and what you've been doing. Especially that old Sage toad, he may not seem like much but believe me, he is one of the oldest and wisest of the summoning animals, he is a very valuable ally...well, he is when he doesn't suddenly forget who you or he is. Though to get this to work, we are going to have to let Jiraiya in on who you are, which means letting him read your scroll of memories," Naruto was surprised, she hadn't realised that the old man had in fact saved the scroll over the past year, she had convinced herself that he would have destroyed it, as it contained information that was too valuable for any one person to have.

"I am fine with Ero-sannin knowing, it'll be nice for at least one other person to know, it gets a little lonely at times keeping such a huge secret, especially when the people involved in a lot of it are so close," Naruto smiled sadly as she looked to the clock behind her, realising she still had fifteen minutes before she had to be back at the east gate.

"Well then I shall send a messenger hawk to him as soon as possible, I'll alert him of the importance, I'll even send the fastest hawk, it'll freak him out a little. Though it'll be nice to see one of my students again, since all three of them have up and left, however after reading through your memories, I have been tracking Orochimaru, he isn't supposed to defect until news of your father being in line for Yondaime is announced, I just have to keep hope that I can perhaps stop him this time around," the man looked sadly to Naruto who had lowered her eyes at the mention of the snake sannin's name.

"Thank you for hearing me out Oji-san, I too hope that things this time can be different…I really do," Naruto turned and left the Hokage's office, poking her tongue out at the receptionist, Misaki, as she went, trying to lighten her mood.

She smiled at the sight of her team, the four people in front of her casually playing around, poking fun of the ever stoic Kakashi. She wanted to save this, to keep the happy smiles on all their faces, maybe this time she could even stop Rin and Obito from dying. She had no idea how they had died, as she had never pushed for Kakashi to tell her, however she knew that it was upon Obito's death that he had gained the Sharingan. Naruto felt that as long as he hadn't activated his eyes he was safe, however she now found herself on constant alert for when it did, the world weighing down on her shoulders, knowing that the third Shinobi War would be approaching in the near future, which would mean once again witnessing many friends deaths, which was supposed to include Obito's. She would do everything in her power however to stop her teammates from dying this time around.

xXxXx

Thank you for being so patient, I would've uploaded sooner but there was a lot I wanted to put in this chapter, the plot will finally start moving along now as I have pretty much gotten the basics of everything in.

Thank you again and I hope you enjoyed.

P.s. sorry for bad proof reading, I really need sleep, so I may have missed a few things


	7. Chapter 7: Nine

**Before I start I would like to apologise for updating so late and to thank everyone for being so patient. My hectic high school career is now over, I have now finished my Queensland testing (QCS) and my usual end of term tests and end of year tests after an excruciating few months and I can now get back into writing. So I graduated high school completely the 16****th**** of November and my next step is to start university in February which is terrifying. I also couldn't write during the September holidays because I went to South Korea to visit our sister school, which was a lot of fun, but no writing was done in that time.**

**I've had the first about 1000 words of this written for quite a while now, but I am unhappy with how it is written, nothing is coming out as I wish it would, so it has taken a long time for me to post this.**

**Thank you for waiting**

xXxXx

Chapter 7: Nine

They'd left from the west gate, Naruto offering to pull the carriage, refusing help whenever it was offered. She needed something to do; the journey began to feel nostalgic, having left through the west gate on team seven's first C rank mission. The land of Waves where she had originally travelled was south east of Konoha, rather close to the late Uzugakure. So far this mission just reminded her so much of that first mission, she doubted she could ever forget those memories.

Obito walked alongside her talking animatedly, complaining about his recent babysitting mishap with his newborn cousin Itachi which involved baby food, vomit and an insane number of towels. Naruto didn't know what to feel as Obito explained what an 'annoying yet adorable' baby Itachi was; she'd only ever really met the man when he had tried to kidnap her. She couldn't picture him as a baby, she felt as if it was impossible for him to have even been an infant in the first place. She felt much more comfortable with the idea that he was just born a teenager…though with that thought in mind she definitely sympathised with the mother that would have to birth such a thing. Naruto cringed at the thought, unable to push the disgusting and graphic thought of a teenager being born from her mind.

"Hey are you okay? You sure you don't want me to pull the cart?" Naruto shook her head, both declining Obito's offer and to clear her head from the disturbing thoughts. Obito simply rolled his eyes and muttered a soft 'stubborn' under his breath. Naruto laughed and looked around, Kakashi was nowhere in sight, making her guess that he was currently guarding the back of the cart. Minato was to her right, conversing with the client who was sitting above Naruto, his son perched quietly beside him. Rin was to her left, strolling behind Obito, her eyes glancing around the surrounding forest.

"The land of waves is thriving at the moment. The best they've been in a while actually, when the Uzumaki clan collapsed they really hit a low, since they were so close together, they were always a big client for the fish markets. It was truly sad to see them fall; none of us were expecting it since they were so strong. Though we now travel to Waves occasionally since the market has increased so much, I think it is just going to keep growing, nothing will knock it down," Naruto's eye twitched at the knowledge she possessed of the land of Waves decline in the future, finding it surreal that the first C rank mission of this era would mention the place which her original first C rank mission occurred, sending chills down her spine.

"I haven't travelled to the land of waves myself, I have however been to Uzugakure before its fall, and it indeed was a strong and thriving country at the time. Konoha was devastated to see a country so close to us fall, we all wear the read swirl on our uniforms to remember them," Naruto looked to the vest her father wore and remembered the swirl situated on the back, she never knew that it was the sign of the Uzumaki's, she felt like kicking herself for being so dense and not knowing all these years.

"I want to go to Uzugakure," Naruto realised she'd voiced her thoughts aloud when Minato and the client looked to her. She widened her eyes in shock before apologising and turning away, sheepish that she'd been caught eavesdropping.

"Why is that? There is nothing there now but a bunch of fallen buildings, been like that for about ten years now. It has also been prone to looters over the years, Konoha took all the important things to 'protect', so I doubt there is anything good left over," the client shook his head and looked back to Minato. The blonde man was watching Naruto with furrowed brows.

"Why would you want to go there Naruto?" Rin asked, Minato watching as the girls shoulders hunched slightly when she'd spoken, her shoulder blades protruding through the back of her shirt as she began to push the cart faster.

"There's just something I want to see there,"

"Like what?" Obito cut in as he quickened his pace to match Naruto's.

"Alright we'll set up camp here," Minato pointed to a small clearing of trees, steering Naruto in the direction of his hand. Naruto practically ran to the clearing, startling the man and his child as they held onto the cart. Minato watched Naruto closely as she settled the cart, gently leaning forward, tilting it to a halt. She looked up at the setting sun; through the entire day of pulling the cart she hadn't taken much notice of the time. She looked to her hands; small unpainful blisters were healing rapidly.

"All clear," Kakashi landed with an almost silent thud next to Naruto.

"I'll go collect firewood,"

"I'll go too!" Obito jumped up from the ground, following Rin into the woods, leaving Kakashi, Naruto, Minato and the clients in the clearing.

"I'm glad he's going with someone, if he was alone he wouldn't come back until morning," a small laugh escaped Naruto, quickly hiding it as she pretended to clear her throat. A slight look of satisfaction crossed Kakashi's eyes, his chest expanding as he pushed his shoulders back unknowingly. Minato chuckled and rustled his hand through Kakashi's messy silver hair, causing the boy to flinch from his sensei. Naruto rolled her eyes and pulled out a tent and light futons from the back of the cart, placing them closest to where the camp fire will be. Minato smiled as he watched Naruto and Kakashi bicker as they set up the tent, not flinching when the client walked up beside him.

"So, she's a chakra monster?" Minato raised a brow, remembering back to the beginning of the day.

"Well, not a chakra monster as in Jinchūriki"—he watched closely as Naruto slowed her actions slightly and quietened, as if she could hear their conversation—"but she possesses an extremely large sum of chakra, much more than any of her age group ever to be recorded. Even some Jounin's do not possess such reserves," Minato was curious as to whether or not Naruto could actually hear them. He wondered about the true capacity of Naruto's chakra, not once had she ever given an indication of reaching her limits, and not once has she ever shown to be using her full strength. What she was capable of was a complete mystery, and he wanted to know why she was holding back.

"Jinchūriki, you mean like the people that are jailors of the Bijū?"

"How much about Jinchūriki and Bijū do you know?" he continued to watch Naruto closely, waiting for any indication that she was indeed listening.

"Just what most people speak about. The destructive power of the Bijū, that there are nine of them, that the ninth one is the most powerful and that most of the Jinchūriki in the past have been the epicentre of many deaths."

"Hey!" Kakashi's yell brought the man out of his thoughts, jumping when one of the tents sticks suddenly broke with a loud crack. Minato could feel the man's gaze on him as he looked to Naruto with furrowed brows. Being able to enhance ones hearing like she could surprised him, it was generally a skill medic nins possessed as they had the knowledge and the intense chakra control to stimulate the right muscles. The other's that had above normal hearing were those linked to summoning animals that possessed it, such as Kakashi and his dogs and the entire Inuzuka clan. As far as he knew, Naruto didn't have the chakra precision or the bond of a suitable summoning animal to accomplish it, causing more questions than answering them.

"Sorry, I'll fix that," she said as she began to wiggle the broken stick from its place. A scream broke through the silent air before it was abruptly cut off. The ninja's instantly jumped into action, Minato grouping the two clients together as Naruto and Kakashi jumped back to guard them, kunai's out and ready. Minato took a three pronged kunai from his vest, markings expertly inscribed on the grip. Naruto's eyes widened, recognising the notorious kunai and seal.

"Hiraishin no Jutsu," the words escaped her as she stared at the kunai her father held. Minato looked down to her incredulously, eyes wide with disbelief.

"How do—" he was cut off abruptly when a whistling alerted him of a flying kunai, forcing him to duck backwards to avoid it. Turning quickly he faced ahead of the group in the direction the weapon had been thrown from.

"What do we have here? A couple of lone leaves," a man slowly crept out of the shadows, holding an unconscious Rin thrown over his shoulder, followed by four more ninja's, the last holding a weak and struggling Obito. Naruto hissed an animalistic, airy hiss and crouched lower, preparing her legs to spring at any moment.

"What are Iwa Shinobi doing here in the Fire country?"

"Oh you know, just passing through the Country of Rain, going for a bit of a stroll," his crooked teeth gave the man a sinister smile, a large jagged scar forcing one of his eyes closed lazily.

"A stroll does not include attacking Genin," Minato's kunai slipped silently through his fingers into a backwards hold, ready to throw at any given time.

"They were sneaking around, made us think they were trying to steal from us you know?"

"Liar," Obito choked out before a fist planted itself sharply into his temple, causing him to fall unconscious. With a shout Naruto jumped forward before being stopped by Minato, the back of her shirt fisted into his tight grip.

"Teamwork Naruto," he placed her behind him and crouched at the ready. Everything seemed to happen at once. As the Iwa Shinobi lowered his kunai to Rin's neck with swift movements, Minato disappeared, reappearing behind the Shinobi, a kunai lodged in the man's throat.

"What kind of teamwork what that?!" she asked in disbelief, parrying a bombardment of shuriken's that followed her voice. Before she could react, Obito and Rin appeared before her, slumped on the ground. She watched her sensei and Kakashi speed off towards the invading Shinobi's, leaving her to protect everyone not capable of fighting.

"I need a little help Kurama," she grunted, trying to lift her teammates onto the cart. She felt Obito's weight lighten as the Kyūbi's chakra increased her strength. Running precise amounts of chakra through specific muscles to increase her strength, much like what a medic nin was capable of. She was ripped from her task however when an enormous weight barrelled into her side. She felt the Shinobi's hands grabbing for her neck, his masculine finger's dwarfing her as the enclosed around her, the thumb crushing her windpipe. A hollow hiss of air escaped her mouth as her lungs were compressed by his knee squeezing her chest. Her eyes watered as her face turned blue, she could feel his skin under her nails as she scratched his forearms, the blood that tricked from the wounds urging him to press harder. As time passed she felt her vision begun to blur, back spots encompassing the man's image, morphing him into unrecognisable shapes.

She couldn't believe it, there was so much she could do in this very moment, so many techniques that would force him off of her. However none of those techniques that came to mind in those split seconds could she use without raising questions. She felt like laughing in a way. A Sage class Jinchūriki, stuck inside a nine year old body, unable to defend herself from a lowly Iwa Jounin. And laugh she did, the laugh was wheezy as her crystalline blue eyes slowly began to bleed red, her incisor teeth lengthening to create an animalistic sneer as the Kyūbi took over as Naruto fell into unconsciousness. The Iwa Shinobi loosened his grip in surprise as the young girl being murdered below him smiled beneath his grip. Her laugh deepened as a masculine tone took over, her pupils suddenly compressing into thin snake-like slit. All was quiet as the two Shinobi stared at one another; the Iwa nin's eyes were wide as the demonic chakra emitted savage killing intent.

"You tried to kill the wrong Shinobi," the manly voice was out of place being spoken through Naruto's petite body. The Iwa Shinobi jumped back in surprise as Naruto's clawed hand swiped towards his chest, the vest protecting it shredded and ripped from its place. Naruto threw the torn cloth aside and quickly stalked forward, her Kyūbi induced body moving fluidly across the grassy terrain. She exchanged fast kicks and punches with the man, the fox's martial arts style sharp and unpredictable, carried out with acute precision. The man's body was left in devastation, cuts and bruises laced his body, several broken bones in his legs left him stranded, unable to escape. She hobbled over to his body and stood over him with heavy gasping breaths, her ruby eyes seeming to glow in the ever dimming light.

"Demon!" the man shouted before lodging a poison tipped kunai into Naruto's thigh, with a shrieking scream she fell to her knee and clutched the man below her with a clawed hand. With a gasp Naruto began to come to consciousness, her eyes morphing from red to blue, a purple hue mixing in as the Kyūbi tried to stay in command.

"Let me out Kurama!" She demanded, swaying above the man, a gooey purple substance bubbling from her thigh.

"Let me handle this Naruto, I will do the deed," The masculine voice took over, the eyes beginning to bleed red again. Dislodging the kunai from her leg, Kurama raised it above her head. Before the kunai fully descended down, Naruto attempted to push Kurama aside, and with a cry she plunged the sharp metal downwards. Blood sprayed into her face, coating her sun kissed skin red. Tears fell from her eyes when she looked back down to the man, fully conscious. The kunai had missed during her struggle with Kurama, planting itself in the side of the man's throat, a bubbling purple liquid foaming from his neck, much like her leg. He writhed beneath her in pain; she didn't know what to do as she looked at his face contorted in pain. In the future she had killed many people doing her job; she would normally just pick up the kunai again and stab him in the throat or completely decapitate him. However as she stared down at the man, she couldn't bring herself to finish what she had started, she knew it would take him out of his misery, however her hands shook as she sat frozen on his chest.

Nimble hands encompassed her waist and dragged her shaking figure off his body. She kicked and screamed, struggling to escape her captor. A flash of yellow appeared in her vision; Minato stood over the man and expertly drew his kunai before slashing the man's throat without hesitation, ending his misery. Naruto's face was forcibly turned from the scene by her captor, the strong arms forcing her face into the crook of their neck. Through her blurry vision she could see the shining silver of Kakashi's hair as he pressed her body to his, away from the corpse. His smoky scent, like a freshly burned fire filled her nose as Kurama's chakra lingered in her system, keeping her senses alert. Naruto stopped struggling then as she turned and stared at her father with tear filled eyes, Kakashi's arms around her stayed locked in a vice grip, forcing her to stretch her neck uncomfortably in Minato's direction. He turned quickly and stalked towards them, bending down he scooping Naruto from Kakashi's arms he power walked towards the cart.

"Kakashi, secure the cart and check on the clients, and see if Rin is awake yet," Naruto drowned out the rest of the conversation as she watched the toads which Minato had summoned engulf the fallen Iwa Shinobi's corpses, no doubt to take them back to Konoha as they completed their mission. She watched the man she stabbed be thrown into the gaping mouth of a toad she faintly remembered, the toad turning in her direction and looking at her before turning away and disappearing in a distinctive cloud of smoke.

"How is everybody?" Minato asked as he placed Naruto on her feet beside him, his strong hand on her shoulder, pushing her body into his leg protectively.

"Didn't you see? One got away!" the client yelled at Minato, striding forward not batting an eyelash as he yelled at a fully fledged Jounin. "What will you do if he goes and gets reinforcements? Huh? Yes you are a Jounin, he may be a Chūnin—" he exclaimed as he threw his hand in Kakashi's direction as he helped Rin sit up "—But that is two high class ninja! These two were knocked out before the fight even began, and _that_—" he said pointing to Naruto "—I don't even know what it is, but didn't you see what it was like? A beast or a dem—" the man was cut off when he was thrown backwards into the cart, Minato's hand keeping him at bay with a fistful of the man's shirt.

"I _dare_ you to finish that word!" the fury in Minato's eyes subsided slightly before he released the man and stepped back, watching as his knees buckled. "Rin and Obito were ambushed, two genin against five seasoned Jounin in a surprise attack. What did you expect to happen there? And don't you dare insult Naruto for her abilities. I told you that she was an expert at ninjutsu, there are thousands of different kinds of ninjutsu, and many more are being created every day, Ninja's can do things that you could only dream of doing. And don't get me started on the numerous Kekkei Genkai's that are still yet to be discovered!" Minato's voice was level and calm, his fury evident through the eerie undertone. He was concerned about what Naruto had just done, the chakra that she had emitted felt familiar, in a way that couldn't be possible, but he wasn't about to stand there and let a stranger belittle his students, especially when one seemed to be in shock after nearly making their first kill, at only the age of nine. Minato took a deep breath, rubbing his hand over his face and sighing.

"Look, these are dangerous times, none of the five major countries are on good terms right now and something like this could have happened to anyone with a ninja forehead protector. We're going to have to be on high alert; I don't believe they are going to bring reinforcements. He is too injured to go all the way back to Iwagakure tonight. We'll stay camped here and travel early tomorrow, we should reach the River country by midday," Obito and Rin were fully conscious by then, Rin instantly tending to everyone's wounds. The client and his son both rushed into the cart, feeling safer at the time inside something than out in the open.

"If only I had my Sharingan, those guys would've had a harder time!"

"They were five experienced Jounin's idiot, with your Sharingan it would've just taken half a second longer for to them to get you!" Kakashi said angrily as he looked over to Naruto as she stared off into space, a look of incredulity and confusion on her usually cute features, which were generally so full of life and energy.

Kakashi blinked a few times and shook his head, he didn't know where the word cute had come from, but it was the last word that would come to mind when he thought about the loud and obnoxious girl that reminded him too much of Obito. She was a good Shinobi however, he would admit that. Him being a Chūnin couldn't take down one of the Iwa Shinobi by himself and could only hold them off until his sensei stepped in to finish the job. It confused him, how is it that a mere Genin was capable of taking down a fully fledged Jounin from Iwa? To the point that she was able to give the finishing blow had she not choked at the last second? She was a mystery to him, maybe she had an unknown Kekkei Genkai like his sensei had suggested, but he knew one thing. That chakra wasn't the usual radiant energy that bubbled from his blonde teammate, and to his surprise, he was worried. About what he wasn't sure.

Naruto clutched her leg, the poison bubbles still frothing from the wound. She scowled at the disgusting scent; the smell was pungent and smelt of some sort of rotting fruit. Kakashi instantly caught the smell as well, looking to her confusedly with crinkled eyes until he spotted her thigh.

"Naruto is that poison?" Everyone instantly turned to the girl, her eyes as wide as a deer's as she meekly shook her head.

"No, no I am fine,"

"Naruto let me take a look," Rin demanded shakily as she moved to hop down from the cart.

"I said I'm fine,"

"Just one loo—"

"I said no!" Naruto shouted as she backed away from Rin. The girl stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide with surprise. Tears threatening to fall as she stared at her teammate incredulously.

"Hey! She's just trying to help you, no need to snap at her," defended Obito as he stood beside Rin.

"Enough! Naruto come with me," Minato turned and walked towards the presently empty tent, holding the door open and waiting for Naruto to follow. His eyes were unwavering as he watched her, it was not a suggestion, it was an order, and she knew it. Trudging down she roughly pushed her way into the tent, feeling Minato follow close behind.

"Let me look Naruto,"

"How many times do I need to say that I'm fi—"

"Naruto," Minato's eyes were narrowed. Again Naruto knew that it was not a suggestion, and there was no room for argument. Sighing, Naruto ripped a bigger hole in her trousers, letting her father look at the poison spewing wound. He hissed when he saw the blistering skin, furrowing his eyes shortly after as he leaned closer.

"No way," he mumbled under his breath as he watched the wound visibly healing itself, the heat radiating off the gash painlessly searing the exposed flesh and expelling the poison from her body.

"I told you I was fine," Minato looked to Naruto and smiled as he began to wrap the wound to hide her exposed skin. He couldn't believe just how amazing his student was, she was just full of surprises.

"Yes you are Naruto,"

xXxXx

The next morning Naruto pulled the cart with vigour in complete silence. She simply answered her tea with an annoyed glare whenever they offered to take the cart from her. She felt bad for taking her emotions out on her teammates, however she was frustrated, she couldn't figure out why she felt such horror whenever she thought about the man she'd stabbed. Why? She'd killed before, why couldn't she kill him, what made him so different? She thought of the horror that her mind and emotion control had reverted back to how it had been when she was younger. She cringed at the thought of having to harden herself again, she needed to be able to kill, it is what ninja's did. She spared as many as she could, however sometimes you had to do the deed, as terrible as it is.

"I knew your emotions had changed with your body, that's why I told you to let me handle it," Kurama grumbled, increasing Naruto's bad mood.

"I'll have to kill sometime Kurama; you don't need to protect me from everything,"

"Your mind is—for the most part—only nine years old Naruto. You shouldn't have to kill at such a young age," Naruto could feel her grip tighten on the wooden bar she held beneath her fingers, a scowl masking her face.

"I'm like eighteen Kurama! Stop treating me like a little kid!"

"You are a little kid! You're not that eighteen year old anymore Naruto, your body and emotions are that of a nine year old. Yes you are wiser than the average nine year old, yes your chakra capacity is still just as big as it ever was, and yes you still have all your knowledge. But right now you can't do the same things as you used to. Killing was never easy for you. You will probably handle killing and death better than any other genin because you have the memory of such events. However it will still affect you. Just like it always has, but more so now that your emotions are so raw," Naruto knew the Kyūbi was right. She didn't want to believe it, she'd gotten used to being a woman, growing up mentally because of the war, having to be a child again annoyed her to an extent. However it also rejuvenated her, looking at the bright side, she realised this was her second chance. It was her chance to actually be a kid, instead of having to grow up at such a young age.

After a few hours they reached the Country of Rivers and took the clients to their requested town, readying to leave with short goodbyes. On the journey back Naruto almost felt like laughing. Her first C rank mission must be destined to never work according to plan. However she wasn't willing to test the theory with a third. She looked around her at all of her teammates. Minato running at the front, his sunny blonde hair trailing behind him, Rin and Obito running side by side behind him, their paces timed perfectly. And lastly Kakashi beside her, his childish features were so similar yet so different to the cool and—who seems to be—rather handsome Kakashi of her time. She didn't know for sure whether he was extremely good looking or not as people said he was since he was constantly hidden behind his mask. However through the curves of his face you could almost imagine what his naked face looked like, and Naruto had been embarrassingly caught numerous times in the future staring at him because of it.

She never wanted her time with these people to end. She just felt so at home. However Naruto knew not to hope, because through her experience, she knew that many good things came to an end, no matter how optimistic she was.

xXxXx

**Once again I would like to thank you for your patience and I look forward to what you thought of the chapter.**

**I personally am not fond of how it turned out, I feel like the story got nowhere. However you all deserved a chapter for waiting, I am just sorry it wasn't as good as what you all deserve.**

**Thank you a bunch, and sorry for my awkward sentence structure. English was probably my worst class in High School (13yrs – 17yrs old). I couldn't even read until I was about 7. Give me science, I love science, give me English and I die.**

**Enough Tiarni!**

**THANK YOU**


	8. Chapter 8: Ten

xXxXx

Chapter 8: Ten

A complete state of conflict was upon the horizon. Many battles had begun to break out between the nations. Fire Country had few allies; then again, no country had allies in these dark times. It was every nation for themselves, the relationship had never been so weak, ever since the Second Shinobi World War. It was that fact that was causing people to begin to panic, the thought that another Shinobi World War was on the horizon terrified civilians and Shinobi's alike.

What pained Naruto, as she hid behind the crumbling cement of an old building, was that she knew another World War was in fact coming, and there seemed to be nothing she could do to prevent it. It was bigger than just Konoha, it was the five major nations with the smaller ones caught in between.

Their battle the previous year with the group of Iwagakure ninja's had been one of the first to breaking the bonds further between the countries. Iwa was infuriated that four of a group of five Jounin's were killed by a Konohagakure_ Genin_ team, and Sunagakure was infuriated that they had done such an act 'so close to their lands', despite the Country of Rivers completely separating the fight from Suna's boarder. Kumogakure and Kirigakure had been on bad terms for years after they allegedly attempted to assassinate Kumo's Killer Bee when he first became a Jinchūriki, and got involved with the other countries for the sake of the power opportunity that could follow winning a war.

Naruto breathed in slowly, letting the air fill her lungs, calming her nerves. Fingering her bag, she felt the scroll nestled inside. She moved as quietly as she could as she peaked over the top of the balcony wall, before jumping back down for cover. The shadowy figure moved with grace below her, his footsteps would have been unnoticeable to an untrained and unenhanced ear. Closing her eyes she listened to her surroundings, waiting for the footsteps to move further away before she made her move.

Once she was satisfied she began her mission. Creeping over the balcony and down into the near empty streets. Many bar's were alight with activity as Shinobi's arriving from a hard days—or in some cases weeks, months, or years—work met up with their loved ones. The few people's faces around her were a blur as she manoeuvred the streets, her target in sight ahead of her. She slowed her movements in order to blend in. She'd swapped her Chūnin's vest for clothes that would make her less likely to be noticed. She stopped at a vendor and henged her hair brown when she noticed her target turn and inspect another stand.

"Expensive diamonds for a little girl," the merchant said, walking up to her henged form.

"Oh please, if only you knew what I really looked like. You wouldn't say such things," in this time, Naruto was nearly ten years old, however from her time she would nearly be nineteen. The merchant scrunched up his nose, disgusted by such a seductive tone coming from the mouth of a child—a fact which thoroughly pleased Naruto. "But it's okay, I don't want your fake diamonds anyway," the man began to protest as she walked away, following her target as he walked further through the markets, the setting sun illuminating his back in orange and pinks.

Naruto was beginning to gain distance, the gap between them shortening with every step she took. His calm and cool demeanour showed no indication that he was aware that she was approaching, his hands languidly placed in his pockets as he roamed the streets.

Without warning, he turned sharply to his right, dashing down an alleyway. Cursing under her breath, she too turned sharply, swiftly climbing up the side of the closest building and hopping over the rooftops until she reached the alley. Looking over the edge, he was nowhere to be found. She frantically looked around her; the sun was rapidly setting, soon to disappear completely much like her target.

She calmed herself before sliding down over the edge, creeping down the side of the buildings fire escape staircase. Once she reached the ground, her brow furrowed in confusion as her shadow morphed out of shape, growing bigger. She widened her eyes in surprise, jumping out of the way just in time for her target to come careening at the ground, landing with a soft thud where she had previously stood

He moved instantly with no time to think, barrelling into Naruto sending her flying backwards. The two rolled when they connected with the hard dirt ground. Naruto reached for her kunai, her hand slapped aside as she was pinned on her back, her target's kunai held against her throat, his other arm and his legs pinning her body to the ground. He moved his face closer her hers and sighed.

"How many times do I have to tell you before you listen? You will never catch me by surprise," he moved the kunai from her throat but kept her arms and legs pinned, their faces close enough that she could feel his muffled breath against her nose.

"You sure?" she smiled before jutting her head forward with lightening speed, her forehead colliding with his cheek before he could fully move out of the way. Spinning her around he twisted her arm behind her back, holding her other arm in front of her, his forearm pressed against her neck. She pushed her legs forward with all her strength, propelling both their bodies backwards into a standing position. His back collided with the wall behind him, a grunt escaping his mouth as he tried to hold onto her. Through several sharp twists she freed herself from his grasp, pulling him towards her and twisting his arm, forcing him to drop the kunai.

Using his leg as leverage, she boosted herself over him, his arm still in her vice-like grip. Her feet connected with the wall behind him before pushing off it, her back colliding with his and pushing him forward. He twisted himself to correctly position his arm, flipping Naruto off balance and gripping her wrist, bringing her down on top of him. Wrapping his legs around her torso, he locked her head in a headlock. She could do nothing but struggle as her target overpowered her. With her fist she banged his thigh repeatedly, her words muffled as his forearm clenched her jaw closed.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" after several attempts at speaking, he loosened his grip slightly around her neck.

"I said…I give," he let her go, her body crumpling forward, hollow coughs racking her chest. "Jesus Kakashi, what's this, the second time now?"

"Third actually," Kakashi stood and brushed off his clothes, the dark fabric lightened with dirt patches.

"Tsk, I'd win if I could use my full strength," she mumbled between coughs.

"Then why don't you?" Naruto looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Ha, I prefer my teammates alive," Kakashi looked to her sceptically, tilting his head slightly in confusion when he saw that she wasn't joking. The words reminded him of their fight with the Iwa Shinobi the previous year when Naruto had nearly single handily killed a seasoned Jounin while she was still only a Genin. She had been promoted to Chūnin since the incident; however no-one had enough courage to ask how she had done it, as she had been shaken deeply by nearly taking her first life.

Kakashi believed she had most likely spoken to the Hokage about the event, as Minato sensei had, as they both continuously had secret meetings with the aging Kage. She was an enigma to him, she intrigued him, however he had no intention to find out more about his teammate, it would just create useless bonds, bonds he didn't need. "Well anyway, it is the 15th of September, so here, happy tenth birthday Kakashi," Naruto said as she pulled the scroll from her bag, offering it to him with a large smile.

Kakashi took the gift with a small thank you, turning it to see the lightening insignia on the front. He looked at it in surprise and turned to Naruto in confusion.

"How did you know I had a lightening affinity?"

"Good guess?" Naruto shrugged with a mischievous smile as she watched Kakashi eagerly unfold the scroll and scan through the contents. After a short while Kakashi had completely disregarded that Naruto was even there, opting to read through one of the few scrolls he hadn't been able to get his hands on. It was from the Hokage's personal collection, he didn't know how Naruto had gotten a hold of it, and in a way he didn't want to, he was just happy to read something that very few people got to.

"Hey Kakashi, we're going to be late,"

"For what?" he said absentmindedly, continuing to read through the scroll. Naruto's smile increased, sounding warning bells off in Kakashi's mind when he finally glanced at her.

"Birthday dinner of course! Minato sensei went through all this effort to book a table at the BBQ restaurant. Don't worry, it is only our team, we know how much you hate large crowds," Naruto knew that if Minato was involved Kakashi would more willingly contribute, and she was going to use everything available to her to get him to that restaurant. He stared at her for a short while, trying to determine whether or not she was lying. Sighing, he reluctantly rolled up his scroll and placed it in his weapons pouch. Naruto's smile impossibly widened, grabbing for Kakashi's arm, pulling him in the direction of the restaurant.

The dinner was small as she had promised, much to Kakashi's relief. Minato and Rin presented their presents much in the same way Naruto had, and when he turned to Obito expectantly, the boy crossed his arms and gave a famous excuse as to why he hadn't been able to get a gift on time. The night carried on happily, with everyone leaving in high spirits.

Naruto and Kakashi walked together, their apartments in a similar direction compared to everyone else's, who lived in the area of Konoha with houses instead of apartments. The two walked in silence, Kakashi choosing to read his scroll as Naruto enjoyed the rare silence. Naruto's eyes narrowed as she watched a group of drunken Shinobi's look in their direction and begin to walk their way. It sounded warning bells in her mind as adrenaline coursed through her body. She remembered all too well the attacks she had suffered at the hands of drunk Shinobi's and civilians. Naruto drew closer to Kakashi as they approached, her eyes completely fixed on them. Kakashi looked to her with annoyance before he noticed the Shinobi. He quickly shoved the scroll into his pouch as his body tensed. He'd had a run in with these very Shinobi a few years earlier not long after his father's death.

"What do we have here gentlemen? A couple of lovebirds going for a stroll," a Shinobi Naruto didn't recognise asked, laughing to his friends behind him as if he'd said the funniest thing in the world. "How does it feel Hatake? How does it feel to be part of a battle that's beginning a war? Like father like son I guess," the Shinobi's continued like this, taunting Kakashi, poking their fingers into his chest and laughing as he took their scrutiny. The men began to get physical with Kakashi, hitting him and pushing him around. Naruto had had enough, being unable to watch as her teammate was unjustly accused of being the instigator of a war.

"Hey! Kakashi has done nothing wrong; we had no control over what happened last year. Even if we hadn't had that fight, this war is inevitable, the bond between the nations has been decreasing for years, our team is _not_ at fault here!" the Shinobi's turned on Naruto then, lashing out and slapping the girl across the face. Her cheek stung as her head whipped around painfully. She could feel the man's chakra as it burned in her cheek, her neck throbbing from the unexpected momentum.

"Kakashi was a warm up before we got to you, you little freak. We heard what you did. Now tell me, how does a lowly Genin kill a Jounin, hm? No-one in this city knows anything about you, where the hell you came from, no-one knows. I doubt that you even goo by your real name. The only conclusion I can come up with, is you're a spy, a spy here trying to bring down Konoha from the inside!" Naruto turned her head back to the man, her eyes bleeding from blue to red as her rage built up inside.

"What the fuck?" the men stepped back as they stared at Naruto, her initial Jinchūriki form beginning to morph her delicate features. They began to whisper amongst themselves, wondering what jutsu or what Kekkei Genkai she was using.

"You freak!" one yelled stopping Naruto momentarily, the memories of her time surfacing with situations much like the one she was experiencing at that very moment. Minato arrived then, his golden hair a yellow flash as he locked one of the men in choke hold. The other men quickly turned and began to leave, yelling exclamations of disgust as they did.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't turn you over to the Uchiha Police," Minato threatened as the man tried to drunkenly struggle his way from the hold. This continued for a few seconds, his mouth making gargled noises as he choked himself further by pushing his head further into Minato's arms trying to escape. He sighed then and suddenly freed him; the man fell backwards in surprise and looked up to Minato fearfully. "Just leave," through his eyes the man could see the unspoken words, the warning not to do what he's done again. He nodded frantically before he scrambled to his feet; darting in the direction his friends had fled.

Naruto stood where she was, the Kyūbi chakra fading as she stood in the deserted street. She turned and looked to Kakashi who was glaring at her from where he stood. She closed her eyes and turned away to escape the cold look she was almost too used to.

"I was fine; you didn't have to intervene,"

"When someone is wrongly accusing my teammates I can't help but get involved Kakashi," her voice sounded aged, much older and wiser than only ten years old.

"Words like that is for the weak, words like teammates, teamwork, comrades, all of it is a load of bullsh—" before he could continue, he was knocked back, his face stinging from the impact of Naruto's punch to his jaw. He looked to her in surprise, her eyes hooded with rage. Minato stood back, watching the two's encounter, unsure whether or not to let Naruto continue and hopefully knock some camaraderie into the boy, or to intervene so as no-one was hurt.

"It's those very words that has kept our country operating, the love for our comrades is what keeps us sane in such an insane world,"

"Putting teammates before a mission kills more people than it saves!"

"You don't know what it is like to have no comrades Kakashi! To be completely alone, in a place where everyone tries to murder you every night, because you had a power that you had no choice in having! Without comrades we are _nothing_!" Naruto screamed, Kakashi's cold hard exterior crumbled slightly as he looked to his blonde teammate in shock.

"Wait, what do you mean murder yo—"

"That's not even the worst of it Kakashi. My parents died the day I was born leaving me at the hands of a village that wanted me dead. The only reason I am still breathing, is because of the leader of that village, a dear comrade. And don't you spit crap about 'you've never had parents you don't know what it is like to lose someone', because I do know. That village leader? He was my only family at the time. He died. I finally found my Godfather, what happened to him? He died. After a while I finally made bonds in my village, the people began to respect me. What happened to them? They _died_. If you have no comrades, you're better off just being me, because everyone around you might as well be dead, living without comrades can't be considered living at all!" Naruto stopped herself; she hadn't meant to reveal so much. The most important parts were still hidden; however she had never wanted to reveal anything. She was just too young to have experienced so much in this time. For example, how could a six or seven year old earn respect from a village of people that wanted to kill them?

Naruto kept her mouth shut after that, opting to turn away from him and her father continuing the walk to her apartment. She could feel their gazes on her back as she walked away, however she couldn't bring herself to face them now. The two of them will be left with so many questions, questions that she was not willing to answer to anyone besides the Hokage. She just needed to calm down and figure out what she'd do if Kakashi or Minato questioned her, looking up to the Hokage mountain, she knew exactly where she needed to be.

After an hour she decided it would be better to return home, which is where she found a sleeping Minato in front of her door. She slowly walked up to his slumbering body, not even flinching when his eyes darted open suddenly and looked her square in the eyes. Matching azure blue iris's staring at one another like a mirror.

"You forgot something," Moving to kneel in front of Naruto he removed a shiny silver object from his pocket and placed it in her hand. She looked down to see her apartment's key, shining back at her. She looked up to Minato to thank him, only to stop short when she saw his worried eyes. Eyes so much like her own.

Silent tears fell down her cheeks, the arm liquid salty inn her mouth. Without warning Minato reached out to her, hugging her too him in a very fatherly embrace, despite his young age of nineteen. His body was warm and comforting, feeling so large compared to her petit frame. She felt so safe and sound, as if nothing in that moment could possibly go wrong. That nothing could harm her.

xXxXx

Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Naruto's birthday passed in a blink of an eye, followed by Rin's the next month. Obito had continuously teased his three comrades because he was older, reminding them that his birthday was at the beginning of the year with their sensei's while everyone else's was at the end. Naruto was relieved when neither Kakashi nor Minato had brought up their conversation from the night of Kakashi's birthday, however she caught the two of them several times sneaking questioning glances out of the corner of her eye.

Minato had stayed with her that night until she'd fallen asleep, the memory of his kind and caring embrace giving her sweet dreams of better times, times without war, famine and hate. She dreamt of a time where she grew up with her mother and father, with caring friends and a man to love and hold her at night. The man however, to Naruto's dismay, was played by a much more grown up Kakashi, reminding her of the strong and brave man her sensei was from her time. She felt she couldn't look him in the eye, especially since she was mentally older and the dream had been heated at one point, only to wake up to his ten year old version. She felt scarred.

To put it bluntly, life all across the five nations was going to shit. The downward spiral of each country was evident as the inevitable declaration of war drew nearer. Many still hoped that everything would work itself out; however Naruto knew the cruel world all too well. No matter how many times she had managed to fix things without violence and simply with her words was amazing, however there were just some times when people won't listen to your words, no matter how right they were. This was one of those times.

Their C and B rank missions began to increase as the still yet to graduate academy students took care of the D ranks, as they were added into the school curriculum now, freeing the more experienced Shinobi for the harder missions. The food and supplies had already began to drop, before war had even been declared, showing people that the worst was yet to come.

Naruto had noticed that her words had not affected Kakashi in a way she hoped they could've. He was instead just as cold and introverted as ever, his training regime increased to the point that she wondered if he was even sleeping at night.

It was mid December when Naruto was called into the Hokage's office. Naruto's rivalry with the receptionist Misaki had all but disappeared by this time. Her once frequent visits caused the woman to barely notice that she even came in anymore. She sat in the familiar leather chair that she had visited numerous times in the few years that she had come to the past. The worn skin fading and beginning to split, she fingered a particularly large hole on the armrest. She noticed that it had begun to take the shape of a lame looking dog, if it had a hunched back or a tortoise shell attached to its back of course. On second thought however, she deemed it to just looking like a hole in a leather chair.

"I have some news for you Naruto," the aging Kage said tiredly as he sat across from her, his own chair waring down from use, more so than her own.

"From your tone I honestly can't tell whether it's good or bad news," Sarutobi chuckled at the girl and sat forward in his chair, his hand clasped together in front of him over unsigned paperwork that he was obviously procrastinating from.

"I finally managed to get in touch with Jiraiya," Naruto's eyes widened at the news, the last time she had seen her Godfather was before his death in her time. The very thought of seeing him again warmed her to the bone. "Through him, I managed to get in touch with those toads of yours. I spoke to Fukasaku and Shima and let them read your scroll of memories. They said that though they do not remember you as we first guessed they would, they do have visions of you, since technically you are from the future. Because you did sign the summoning contract, there's the possibility your name will still be there, however until Jiraiya reverse-summons me the scroll I cannot be sure. The old sage has agreed to take you back to Mount Myōboku for sage training," Naruto sat in silence as she stared at the man across from her, bewildered. Finally, she was finally going to get one of her old techniques back, something from her old life that she could actually use again without raising suspicion.

"When do I leave?"

"As soon as I inform Minato, which will hopefully be tomorrow morning, since I am buried in paperwork right now. So be prepared to leave tomorrow just in case," Naruto stood from her chair, thanking the man in front of her profusely. Before her hand reached the door knob however she stopped and slowly turned to the Kage.

"Hey Ojiji-san," the man looked up with an amused look, his eyebrow cocking upward at the girls serious expression. "I feel bad that I had never asked but, what did you do so as Mum had no idea that the Kyūbi had transferred from her to me?" the man sighed as he leaned back in his chair, his eyes fixed on his hands resting in his lap, making him look almost like a schoolboy being reprimanded.

"I used a very strong genjutsu seal behind her ear while she was sick in hospital. Every time she went into her inner world to speak with the Kyūbi, she would see him, but he would just continue to stay quiet as if ignoring her," Naruto nodded at that, mumbling a quiet 'ok' before thanking the Kage again and leaving the room.

xXxXx

The next morning passed quickly as she sat in a training field, waiting for their sensei to show. It was already passed the designated meeting time and Obito, who had actually shown up only a minute late, was complaining about Minato's tardiness. Naruto knew however that Minto was most likely caught up in a conversation with the Hokage about her leaving to train with the toads. She didn't know what reasoning the man was going to use, but she knew it had to be good to get it passed Minato.

They waited an additional five minutes before he appeared in a flash of yellow behind Naruto. Obito and Rin jumped back in surprise, Naruto sat still in confusion, _had he marked her clothes with the Hiraishin's seal?_ She lifted her limbs one by one, trying to find the tiny seal. He looked to her in amusement as she searched, laughing when she began to remove her jacket to check inside.

"So team, it looks like we are going to be an average four man squad for a while," Obito, Kakashi and Rin all looked to their sensei confusedly, Naruto not paying attention as she continued to search her clothing. Her eyes suddenly widened before she looked up to her sensei. Obito snickered and said with a lowered voice,

"Late reaction much?"

"You didn't draw it on me or something did you? Because that is just plain creepy!" Minato laughed while Rin and Obito looked at her as if she'd gone mad, not understanding what she was talking about while their sensei spoke about a serious matter such as losing a member of the squad.

"Rolled up inside the tag," she blinked and checked where he'd sent her, and indeed, on a small piece of rolled up cloth, inside her tag, was the Hiraishin seal, expertly sewn into the rough fabric.

"I didn't know you could sew so well,"

"I honestly can't, it was all Kushina," he smiled fondly, looking back to the rest of his team, their expressions expectant as they stared after their sensei.

"Still creepy, how and _when_ did you get my jacket?"

"Well? Who's being kicked out?" Obito butted in, his voice shaking slightly from nerves and impatience. Minato laughed and ruffled the boy's hair.

"No-one's being 'kicked out' Obito, someone has been ordered by the Hokage for special training more suitable to their field of expertise is all," removing a small summoning scroll from his back he unravelled it, placing it on the ground. After the appropriate hand signs he placed his hand on the ground, summoning a scroll that Naruto recognised all too well.

"The toad summoning contract," Naruto said as she replaced the jacket back onto her shoulders.

"I see you're familiar with it," Minato looked to her expectantly, Naruto caught on however. He was suspicious of her knowledge, but she wasn't about to be caught out by something as trivial as this.

"I've seen the design in a book I've read before about summoning. It had an entire section on the sage's summoning scrolls. This one, Tsunade's slug seals and Orochimaru's snake summoning tattoo seal were all featured," Naruto kept her eyes on the scroll as if it were the most amazing thing in the world, not trusting herself to look her sensei in the eye in case he caught out her lie.

"Since when do you read?" Obito joked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"If it will help improve my ninja skills than I will do many things, even if it means stooping to the low disgusting depths of even picking up a book," Naruto said to Obito, the two smiling at each other, both sharing the hate of reading or studying at all. However Naruto learned in her time that sometimes you had to do things you didn't want to do, and reading was one of those things. Not that she had actually read a book on summoning scrolls and was instead pulling crap out of her ass, hoping her memories of their summons were how they were practiced in this time, but all in all it was a good enough excuse.

Minato smirked, his smile screaming the words 'well played'. He silently unravelled the scroll showing Jiraiya's name as well as his own. Naruto looked to the empty spot where her name used to be placed next to her father's—a fact she had not known when she's first signed the contract years ago. She was relieved when she didn't see her name, not knowing what she would have done had it been there. She didn't really mind, she just knew she'd have to sign it again that morning in order to go train at Mount Myōboku, but that is when it hit her. She couldn't lie about her name on a summoning scroll, if she put down an alias such as Uzumi instead of Uzumaki, the summoning wouldn't work. She looked down in shock, hoping that he was just going to do a demonstration of how they work.

"Come over here Naruto," her eyes were wide as she slowly walked forward; she knew Minato was watching her closely. He was a sly man when he wanted; her actions in those few seconds had most likely alerted the man that Uzumi, Naruto or both weren't her real names. She gave him a look of, 'oh you're good', with narrowed eyes. He simply smiled back, showing all his teeth in an innocent 'I don't know what you're talking about', look. It was overly sweet and innocent that she could've sworn her teeth would begin to hurt and that she'd get a giant cavity.

Minato looked back down to the names on the scroll and frowned slightly; he reached out and touched the blank space where her name used to be. She saw him put his hands together and whisper a quiet 'kai', as they did when trying to release a genjutsu. Naruto watched her father silently. His eyes flickered to hers, a bewildered 'what the fuck?' look on his face.

"What is it sensei?" Kakashi asked for the first time. He looked between his sensei and his blonde teammate. Her eyes calm as they stared steadily at Minato's, while his showed complete and utter confusion.

"This blank space here has been signed; therefore there is another toad summoner. However, I believe we aren't allowed to see who, as the probably the Hokage himself has placed a very high level genjutsu on it, in order for the name to be hidden," Minato leaned down and looked at the 'empty space', intrigued. He hadn't known someone else had signed the contract; he was confused that his sansei hadn't told him in their monthly letters.

"Looks like something above any Jounin's clearance, this is a very big secret," his whisper was painfully quiet; he knew Naruto would hear him though he didn't really mind. Kakashi strained to listen; only catching shards of what he had said. Minato gave Naruto a look of encouragement, trying to reassure her that he was not going to forcibly dig into her past, as he had seen the terrified look on her face at the thought of signing the contract in front of her peers. It solidified his suspicion that she was under an alias, he didn't particularly care that it wasn't her real name. However a weakness of Minato's was his love of solving mysteries, and this girl was one giant mystery.

Without further ado, Minato bit his thumb and placed it on the ground. A giant puff of smoke appeared, clouding everyone's vision. When the smoke began to clear, Minato was visible standing tall with his arms crossed over his chest. Everyone's faces deadpanned when they saw the two old frogs standing before him, their height's barely reaching above his knee.

"That's it? All that suspense and dramatic…ness! And all you come out with is two senile old frogs?!" Obito's pointed accusingly at Minato as the man laughed.

"Calm down Obito, these two sage toads have fought and won many battles with Lord Jiraiya," Obito looked at them sceptically, his eyes narrowed and eyebrows raised. However the mention of Jiraiya caused his mood to lighten. The man was not only a famous Shinobi, and one of the three great sages of Konoha, but he was renowned for his joking character, which Obito liked the idea of.

"Well you're not exactly all we were expectin' either human! You're a little scrawny for a ninja aren't ya?" Shima's shrill voice called to Obito, upset by his 'senile' comment.

"It's great to meet you Lord Fukasaku and Lady Shima!" Naruto called, pushing Obito aside just as he was about to make a snide comment back to the sages.

"Why hello there Naruto-chan, it's a pleasure," Fukasaku replied, eyeing Naruto up and down with his wise black and gold eyes, the gold iris's almost glowing in contrast with the black surrounding them.

"You two know each other?" Rin asked, the old toad laughed a haughty chuckle, sounding breathless and airy as if he was about to choke or cough at any moment.

"Not quite, but I look forward to getting to know each other," Naruto smiled, fully aware that it was her that was being sent away for training.

"How so?"

"What he means Rin, is that Naruto here, has been requested to be sent to Mount Myōboku in order to commence toad sage training by the Ōgama Sennin himself. The same one in which Lord Jiraiya himself semi-completed," Minato stated with a soft smile. He was proud that his student had been chosen by the Great Toad Sage. He had been told by the Hokage that the great sage had had a vision of Naruto doing sage training at a young age. Since war was looming around the corner, it was estimated that within the year it would be officially declared, the toads and Hokage all requested that she commence the training immediately.

"Ōgama Sennin?" Obito asked in confusion, looking around at all the blank faces as they stared back him.

"Idiot, the Ōgama Sennin is the old language for the 'Great Toad Sage' of Mount Myōboku," Kakashi deadpanned, his monotone voice mocking.

"I never learnt the old language!" Obito said defensively.

"There was an entire test on it in the academy Obito," Rin reminded him. Her comment almost felt like a betrayal, she was the last person he wanted to have reprimanding him in any way.

"Just because there was a test on it, doesn't mean I learned it,"

"Here here!" Naruto concurred with her hand raised, pretending she held a glass toasting. Obito smiled at having someone on his side, relieved that she backed him up, no matter how small the support. Minato simply laughed, he was going to miss Naruto's bright and cheerful nature to keep them in high spirits when the days turned hard.

"Three idiots on a team of five, I am outnumbered," Rin looked to Kakashi with annoyance, thinking she had been included as one of the idiots before she looked to where his eyes were fixated…On the three Shinobi in front of them. She smiled with pride and inched closer to Kakashi, happy that the boy she liked didn't think her an idiot.

Her smile faded however when she saw that his eyes weren't on the three Shinobi's, but one in particular. She didn't know what kind of look it was, as his eyes gave away no emotion. However her chest ached slightly in jealousy when she realised he was looking at Naruto, the _other_ female on their team. She felt better—feeling guilty later—however when she remembered that Naruto was leaving on an extended training trip to a secret location which took over a month to travel to.

She knew it'd take over a month because Naruto haven't signed the contract and therefore couldn't be reverse-summoned to the land of Toads. This meant she had a minimum of 2 months to strengthen her bond with Kakashi while they weren't concentrating on training or missions. She had enough sense though to know her ninja work came first, especially now with a war looming upon the horizon.

After some goodbyes, Naruto left with the Toads back to her apartment, leaving the trio and their sensei in the training ground, ready to begin.

Once they'd reached the apartment, the toads looked to Naruto, who donned a mischievous look of glee.

"Are you ready?" Naruto's smile simply widened.

"You have no idea," and with that, they were gone.

xXxXx

**Another chapter just within a few days, I got really into the writing spirit. Once I started I just couldn't stop!**

**(That's a lie, I found out my favourite author had brought a new book out in 2011 without my knowledge and I instantly had to read it, I haven't finished it yet, I am up to page 324 with just 65 left. However I really wanted to give you guys another chapter, so I decided to put it down and finish this.)**

**Thank you to everyone that reviewed. I absolutely LOVE listening to what you guys have to say. They literally drive me to write more. I don't need over 1000 reviews or favourites or alerts. As long as I know that you guys here with me are enjoying my story, than that is all I need.**

**Thank you so much to everyone that has told me how much they like the story, favourite parts, constructive criticism. I love it.**

**I am also open to any ideas. I know where I want my story to go, however I will definitely try and incorporate my readers thoughts and ideas into my story, because I feel it is just as much your story as my own :) **

**I can't say thank you enough!**

**Tiarni**


	9. Chapter 9: Ten

XxXxX

Chapter 9 – Ten

The energy felt soft—for lack of a better word. It was delicate as it pushed through her chakra coils in slow dancing movements, however soft it may be the power it provided felt immense. A power she remembered well. A power she admitted she missed.

She felt her calm heart beat faster as she drew in a deep breath, automatically rushing to process the new oxygen that filled her lungs. As she expelled the air through her mouth, her heart slowed once again to a rhythmic _lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub_.

She felt the energy pulse through the ground beneath her, the natural chakra of the Earth beating through her veins. A sense of serenity washing over her like a wave as she listened to the quick fluttering heartbeat of a nearby bird, its natural chakra pulsating through the earth towards her. The chakra of the Earth was magnificent and clean compared to the disgusting chakra of some she'd felt throughout her life. Senjutsu chakra was beautiful, she hadn't realised just how much she had missed it in the past years she'd been practically forbidden to utilise it.

Naruto flinched as she heard the faint and obviously well trained footfalls of a person approaching. Her concentration was disrupted, a fact she realised much too late. The nature energy she'd been cultivating and mixing into her own chakra suddenly became violent. The bipolar shift began to overrun her physical and spiritual energy in large raging waves, so different from the once delicate chakra she'd had under her control previously.

She felt the immense surges of energy erupt from her chakra core, spreading out uncontrollably across her body. Before Naruto could even attempt to get the energy back under her control she was interrupted with an abrupt _thwack!_ She jumped with a high squeak, rubbing her throbbing skull. She sighed with both anger and relief as the she felt the natural energy dissipate to a dwindling spark before completely leaving her body.

"You did well Naruto-chan, you just need to make sure you are not distracted enough for it to take over," she nodded her head despite having the burning urge to snidely tell him she knew all that already. She also wanted more than anything to take the staff from his webbed hands and snap it over her knee and stick the pieces in hard to find and unwanted places. That urge she'd definitely keep in her own mind, for that 'stick' was keeping her from turning into a giant stone toad.

Naruto scratched her head viciously in frustration, it had been a week already and she still wasn't able to balance her physical and spiritual energy with the nature's energy. Her body beforehand was different, nearly fully matured. Her body and chakra now however we still maturing, growing by the minute. Much like her previous life, she had too much chakra for her immature chakra coils. However through years of growing and maturing, she'd managed to train them to a point where they were capable of handling the immeasurable amounts of chakra she'd pump through them.

Right now with her still developing body, balancing the nature's energy with either of her spiritual and physical energies was proving to be extremely difficult.

"Don't beat yourself up so much, I didn't get to the stage your at now until _years_ after I began senjutsu training. To get this far in just a week is beyond comprehension," Naruto stared wide eyed at the man standing before her. He was quite tall, standing above 190 cm, which towered over Naruto's petite childlike frame, especially in her seated position on the ground. He wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which mesh armour showed out of the sleeves and legs, covering—but not completely masking—the obviously toned muscles beneath.

His gloved hands were crossed over his broad chest as he lent lazily against a tree, watching Naruto with both amusement and amazement, though a flash of uneasiness flickered across his eyes when he looked to the old toad. His spiky white hair was well kept, fitted back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was lean and fit with early signs of aging only just beginning to appear in his features. Naruto estimated that he'd only be in his early thirties. The red tattoos were not as prominent as she remembered, falling down his cheeks like thin streaks of blood crying from his eyes.

She couldn't stop the smile which cracked across her face. It had been years since she had seen the sannin, years since he had died. He'd lived a long life compared to Shinobi standards; however the loss of her godfather had not been an easy loss to bear.

"The great o' lord Jiraiya, it is great to meet you," in the past/future she would not have usually showed such respect to the sannin—whether it sounded sarcastic or not—however Naruto truly meant what she said. She had dearly missed the man.

A wide grin broke across his face, the red markings bending like snakes as he smiled.

"I like this one, she knows a great Shinobi when she sees one," he gave Fukasaku a thumbs up before pushing himself off the tree and walking forward. "So this is the little genius protégé I have heard about," he stated before coming to a halt only two metre's from where she still sat, his body shrouding her in shadow. Naruto's heart slightly skipped a beat as her cheeks flushed red; no matter how many times people praised her she still found it awkward to take compliments.

As her skill was above many her age, she had been dubbed in the village as being, not necessarily a genius, but a very skilled Shinobi. Naruto still found it odd to have so many people looking to her with appraising eyes while a child. She had previously had to work for many years before many of the villagers would look at her with such valuing and trusting eyes.

"She is indeed a very skilled Shinobi, better than you ever will be. She isn't swayed by simple things like women, money and alcohol," Jiraiya laughed, placing his right hand above his heart in mock hurt.

"Now, now old toad that hurt. I'm sure she will find the wonders in them eventually, maybe not the women aspect of it, but hey! You never know, I'm all encouraging if you eventually swing that way," he winked to Naruto, which she responded with an amused raise of an eyebrow. Fukasaku rolled his yellow slit eyes before looking to Naruto.

"For now I must consult with Jiraiya boy here, you practice frog kata until I get back. Don't even think about trying to balance your natural energy without me here," Naruto's eye twitched slightly at the reminder, she used to be an overly stupid person which helped with dealing with people when they constantly reminded her of things she already knew. However now, with her increased knowledge and frustration with herself, she found that her patience sometimes wore thin with people. _Now I know what normal people feel like,_ she'd think, hating and loving being normal.

"Aye, aye captain," she saluted and began to run through the stances, readjusting her moves to fit her shortened height and limbs.

XxXxX

Jiraiya and Fukasaku walked and hopped from the clearing respectively. Jiraiya listened to his surroundings, the birds singing above them, the roaring of toad oil waterfalls, and Naruto's barely audible footsteps as she moved through the stances, fading more as they walked away.

"Why so young Fukasaku?" he broke the silence between the duo, the old toad jumping alongside him in thought.

"If it's her, it won't be as dangerous,"

"Bullshit, how can you be so sure? She is just a child; the immature chakra coils wouldn't be able to hold something as powerful as nature's energy. Does she even have enough chakra to balance it all with? You and I both know just how much it requires," Fukasaku sighed, he understood his defensiveness towards the training. To be a sage generally took years of work, and up to decades of training beforehand. Jiraiya had been the youngest ever to attempt sage training, and even then, when he first began to collect nature's energy, he was nowhere near as young as Naruto.

"She has had previous training in Senjutsu, you'll understand soon. It took me a great deal of time to decide upon the decision of recommencing her training. I know just how dangerous it is for someone with a body so young; however you will understand soon enough Jiraiya boy," Jiraiya looked to the old toad with distaste, by no means was he mad that he was no longer the youngest to commence sage training. He was happy that he was the youngest because he'd pity anyone who would go through the grilling and painful training had they been younger than he.

"How could she possibly have had previous training?" Jiraiya seethed, his eyes narrowed at the toad. "To train Senjutsu at an age younger than she already is? I don't care if you are a genius; no-one's coils could possibly be mature enough. And stop with the cryptic 'you'll understand soon'!" Jiraiya added on the end when Fukasaku began to open his mouth. The old toad just sighed and rolled his eyes, turning away from Jiraiya.

Jiraiya followed in annoyance, he was worried for the girl they'd left in the clearing. He was scared of the damage that could be done to underdeveloped chakra coils. They broke out onto the edge of the stunning toad city hidden between the mountains of Mt. Myōboku. Tall spiralling leaves that spewed water into underground streams towered around each corner; lush plants of odd shapes grew and crawled across the ground and up buildings. No matter how many times Jiraiya visited the ancient city, it never ceased to take his breath away with its beauty.

Walking into the oldest and biggest building, they made their way through the giant archways of warriors. Fierce toad statues of all shapes and sizes lined the walls on either side of them, senjutsu chakra radiating from each and every one of them. He'd seen the ceremony of death before. The bravest and most recognised of toads upon their death, had copious amounts of natural energy pumped through their bodies, solidifying them for eternity in stone, then placed in a sort of 'hall of fame' which they walked through at that moment.

Pushing through a large open doorway, Jiraiya and Fukasaku were greeted by the sight of the Great Toad Sage sitting atop his 'throne'. His broad black hat sat across his head, perfectly balanced as the toad sage moved quite infinitesimally.

"Ahh, Fukasaku boy … and who are you?" he turned his heavily lidded eyes onto Jiraiya, no recognition playing across his features.

"This is Jiraiya boy, you have met before,"

"Oh?" the old sage said nothing after that, closing his eyes and sitting perfectly still. Jiraiya could see the nature energy surging towards him in thundering waves, the toad soaking up the powerful force as if it were nothing, which to him, it probably wasn't.

Fukasaku lead Jiraiya to the left where a large scroll sat, easily the same size as the toad summoning contract. Jiraiya's eyes widened at the intricate seal which stood in powerful marks across the paper. He recognised bits of it as a very powerful sealing scroll he had created years ago; however this seal was obviously more intricate and improved. A slight bit of annoyance surged through Jiraiya at the thought of his seal being modified, however the instant recognition of Minato's work quenched the annoyance into pride.

"'_Scroll of Memories'_" Jiraiya read the old script woven into the seal aloud. "Looks fancy, and highly confidential," he said, admiring his student's work on the scroll. With the great complexity of the seal, he could only assume that even though Minato had drawn it, he doubted his student was even permitted to see the contents of the scroll. It might as well have had a neon sign shouting 'KAGE ONLY' written above it. He saw places where the seal had been modified over time, increasing and improving the safety of the contents.

"It is very highly confidential, the scroll itself is kept in the high court safe of Mt Myōboku itself, we send the scroll back to Hiruzen boy to have the seals improved and updated every three months by Minato-chan. its contents at this time are also always updated," Jiraiya blew out a long whistling breath of air. _Now that's one top secret scroll_. He looked down to the old toad with questioning eyes.

"So what the hell are you showing it to me for?"

"Because you Jiraiya boy, are one of the few chosen to read its contents,"

XxXxX

He sat atop the branches of a low old tree, the thick bough beginning to hollow from age and parasites. He took deep breaths and expelled them from his lungs, his heart rate steady with each breath. He looked down at the house before him, the back fence only a mere few metres ahead of him.

He always came here to think, he despised himself for it, but he just couldn't let the hiding spot go. It was one of the few places in the world where he actually allowed himself to feel. To feel the sorrow, happiness, frustrations, everything he'd been through that day. At that moment he felt lonely, a feeling he was all too familiar with and despised with a passion. He hated feeling alone; however it was a very prominent emotion that he always encountered.

He looked down to the house suddenly when a little boy walked out, a fake wooden kunai clutched in one hand and several fake shuriken in the other. He giggled happily as his mother, a jounin ninja Kakashi recognised, chased after him playfully. A pang twisted in Kakashi's chest as he watched the pair light-heartedly prance around the backyard.

Her eyes darted to the left suddenly in Kakashi's direction, he quickly moved behind the thick branches of the tree, hiding him from view. He knew she'd seen him, but he couldn't find the courage to appear again, not to see the pitying stare he'd see in her eyes again.

Jumping down from the tree he ran in the opposite direction, towards his own side of Konoha, the side where the lonely lived. Rows and rows of one man apartments opened before him as he quickly walked down the busy streets.

Every time he left that place he regretted having even been there, he didn't understand why he tortured himself by going back. However the memories he held of that house obsessed him; every time he spotted the house he felt both the haunting and happy memories.

_"What's wrong Kakashi?" the boy walked forward, eyes wide as he stared at the man before him. In his hands he held a small bird, it's chirping sorrow-filled and painful. Its fluttering heart beat incredibly quickly, the beating reverberating through his fingertips. Its feathers across its chest and belly were bright blue in colour; much like the sky, while across its top was deep greens to camouflage with the forest._

_"I didn't mean to, I missed the target. I didn't know it was there," He was scared of the consequences of his actions, how had he to know the bird would be harmed by missing the target? _

_"Let me see," The man took the bird gently from Kakashi, his hands dwarfed by his fathers. "It's only a little scratch, probably scared out of its mind. It obviously wasn't expecting your shuriken eh?" Kakashi visibly relaxed, happy to know his father wasn't mad at him. Sakumo walked to the fence and held his hands and the bird above his head. It quickly fluttered its wings, testing them, before rapidly taking flight and landing on an old thick tree only a few metres from the fence where a large messy nest was being made._

_On his way back towards Kakashi, as quick as a flash he picked the young boy up into his arms and cuddled him to his chest, laughing as Kakashi squirmed. _

_"Put me down! I am nearly four, I am a ninja!" Sakumo simply laughed and clutched his son to his chest tighter, roughly tousling his hair, causing the mask from his face to slip slightly._

_"Not yet you're not! How about a deal, I'll stop doing this the day you become a Chūnin. When you're an awesome ninja," Kakashi looked at him sceptically, pulling the mask back up to cover the bottom half of his face._

_"No you won't," Sakumo smiled and kissed Kakashi atop his head._

_"No I won't, you know me too well,"_

"I never agreed to that deal you liar," Kakashi said aloud. He'd reached his apartment now, instinctively pulling out his key and unlocking the door—not that a lock would do anything against a ninja if they wanted to get in.

The door slammed behind him, the sudden bang echoing and exaggerating the silence of his apartment. There was very little in the apartment to show that anyone lived there, the main giveaway was the running refrigerator, besides that it was impeccably neat with little personal items. The most intimate part of his room was a bookshelf on the far wall next to the small window. Upon the bookshelf stood books and scrolls, as well as a rack for Kakashi to place his father's tanto, known as the Hakkō Chakura Tō, or the White Light Chakra Sabre.

However amongst all that stood one photo, proudly framed and sat upon the bedside table beside the book case. The traditional team photo. It was a crowded photo, more so than any other teams. The picture was colourful and lively, a stark contrast to the rest of Kakashi's room. Minato crouched at the back of the picture with an enormous smile across his face as he laughed, his hands placed atop Kakashi's head and attempting to grab for Obito, while Rin sat in the foreground of the photo with both hands up in peace signs. Naruto however stood between Obito and himself, her arms slung around their necks with a grin to rival Minato's, shining at the camera.

Naruto had caught Obito and Kakashi off guard, which continued to irk Kakashi to no end. The photo showed Kakashi with wide eyes, surprised when Naruto had suddenly grabbed their necks and brought the three of their heads together. Obito however had nearly fallen on top of Rin, his face a mixture of fear, surprise and hilarity as the picture caught him in mid fall.

That pang of loneliness was in his chest again, before he stopped it with a figurative slap in the face. He saw his team pretty much every day, he didn't know how he could possibly miss any of them.

His eyes were instantly drawn to his blonde female teammate, who he hadn't seen in just over w eek, her exuberant grin almost taunting. He furrowed his eyes, squinting them as he concentrated on the picture. He hadn't noticed it before, having been too distracted by her annoyingly exaggerated movements. However in the photo he could see the faintness of loneliness and sorrow in her eyes which he felt ever since his father had died.

The thought took him back to the night the previous year on his birthday, when Naruto had proceeded to tell him of the losses and hardship she had lived through. What she had said had caused more questions than it had answered. Her past was pretty much unheard of, no-one really knew where she was from, all anyone had been told was she was from a destroyed village in the North-West of Fire Country, just south of the boarder of Yugakure, separating the countries of Fire and Cloud.

Kakashi felt the need to know more about his blonde teammate, and it was in that moment when his mind hit a wall. Looking into her past would only cause unnecessary bonds. That, or he is doing his village a favour, no-one knows her, therefore she could be a spy for anyone. Kakashi felt his chest constrict in betrayal at the thought that she could do such a thing. It was that moment that Kakashi figured out he had unknowingly already started making unnecessary bonds. Bonds that would only cause him and others harm; a bond that must be destroyed before that could happen.

XxXxX

Naruto breathed in as she heard the footsteps come closer, never losing her concentration as she meditated. She had quickly grown bored of practicing the frog kata stances. She had pretty much already gotten used to her new height with the fighting technique over the past week and a half through the stances and she knew the only way to further improve and learn was in real combat.

However, as much as she wanted to continue practicing gathering natures energy, she was smart enough to know the consequences if she messed up in her current state without Fukasaku there to help her. So she settled on meditating, sitting still, resting her mind. She'd had time to think about everything that had happened in the past two and a half years. The bonds she was making, the people she'd met. It all felt like a beautiful yet terrifying dream.

A part of that dream was the footsteps approaching her right this moment. She recognised the gait, it was impossible for her to forget. Not to her surprise, Jiraiya stepped out of the trees, however compared to the last time they had met a few hours previous, his eyes seemed older and full of wonder.

Naruto stood and faced Jiraiya, looking to her godfather uneasily as he stared back at her. His deep brown eyes seemed to take in every bit of her, she felt as if he could even see through her. Naruto jumped slightly and looked to him in confusion when a deep baritone chuckle sounded from his chest, soon escalating into a full out laugh.

Naruto stood in her place, her eyes impossibly wide as she stared at the man she considered one of her closest family. He wiped a tear from his cheek and directed his gaze back to Naruto. Jiraiya's smile was stretched from ear to ear, his eyes glassy with tears which surprised Naruto.

"Mahna," Naruto froze with eyes as big as saucers. She hadn't heard that name in years, not since before Jiraiya had died. "That's an odd nickname. If someone ever told me I'd give that name to anybody, I'd think them weird. Then again, there is nothing normal about you or your situation is there? Well, I've never considered myself normal either. So remind me Mahna, how did that name come about?"

Naruto knew he already knew the answer to his question, he'd obviously already read the scroll of memories. She could see him looking at her expectantly, waiting to hear what she said. He just wanted confirmation, to know what he'd just read was actually the truth. As crazy and impossible as it seemed, he strangely felt himself hoping for it all to be true. He was sad by the horror her life had been, however for his own selfish reasons he wanted it to be reality, for this girl to be his family.

"It was during a three year training trip we took together," her voice sounded shaky, steadying as she continued. "I found out about your first book, that the main character's name was Naruto. When I asked you about it you just laughed and brushed it off as a coincidence. Which it could have possibly been, however I could see it in your eyes, you knew something. How I got the name Mahna is boringly simple honestly. First you were referring to the character in the book as 'My Naruto', however after a while you started calling me 'My Naruto'. Being as lazy as we both know you are, that name soon became too long and tedious for you to say. So it started getting shortened to a single word, first MahNaruto, then MahNaru, and eventually your laziness took over and it was shortened to Mahna," Jiraiya chuckled in disbelief as he looked around the clearing, a large smile on his face.

"This whole thing just feels unreal,"

"Well to you I am not surprised; you weren't even reading the scroll from your perspective, but mine instead. All you know of yourself is what I thought and saw of you. I don't think it being in your point of view would be of anymore help to make it more real, so I understand—" Jiraiya walked slowly across the green grass and stood in front of Naruto, stopping her rambling mid sentence. His figure completely towered over the girl, casting her in shadow. He bent his legs and lowered himself to the ground. He felt kind of in a state of shock … almost. He knew he wasn't, but it was the best way to describe how he felt in that moment.

Without warning he quickly reached towards the girl and wrapped his large arms around her frame, pulling her body to his. She wriggled her arms free and clutched his clothing in her small hands, knowing her arms would be much too short to even attempt reaching around his chest.

"You're a strong kid … Mahna," Naruto smiled then, she lent her head against his chest, tears welling behind her closed eyelids. The salty drops overflowed and spilled down her cheeks, some sliding into her mouth or onto Jiraiya's clothes. She could feel his heart beat with the strength of a horse, his lungs large and loud as the _whoosh _of air expanded then expelled from his lungs.

She was so thankful he had read the scroll; finally, she didn't feel quite so outcaste. She now had another person that knew, another person she could potentially confide in. Naruto was absolutely elated by this, the smile on her face not fading. After a long while the pair pulled away, Jiraiya's eyes were completely dry, however an extremely faint tinge of red was left behind, only visible if you were looking for it.

"So," Jiraiya began, rubbing his hands together as he grinned a mischievous grin down at Naruto, "What is this I hear about you wanting to learn sealing?"

Naruto all at once wanted to hug and hit him. She did indeed want to learn sealing, but the thought of studying really ruined the mood.

_Damn ero._

XxXxX

"Your handwriting is terrible; you'll only manage to blow yourself up with that," Naruto's eye twitch in annoyance as Jiraiya took another jab at her chicken scrawl writing.

"Sorry, I was never really taught properly how to write," Naruto countered back, Jiraiya's face twitching in pain slightly at the memory of her cruel upbringing. "Why do I need to learn this anyway?! I have heard of so many people that made seals without drawing anything! Like Dad, he made a very complicated Eight Trigram Divination Seal Spell Formula in seconds on my belly … no ink," Naruto crossed her arms with a huff, putting at the terrible writing in front of her. Jiraiya sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Only very skilled people are able to do that, the Eight Trigram Sealing Style Minato used on you is a mixture of a few different seals which make up eight points of sealing. Many of them are pre-existing seals which he would have learned off by heart; however he is very skilled and was able to incorporate new seals into it which would allow the seal to work. He had to draw it in his head first. You have no idea how much practice it takes to be able to do that. I have faith in you however, sealing knowledge is in your DNA, Uzumaki's tended to be very gifted at sealing techniques, your mother included, and I don't doubt you'll learn quickly," Naruto gave in and reached down to pick up her brush again, her brain hurting from how complicated seals were.

"Okay, so first you have the Five Ancient Elements, or the five movements which are used for more old or sometimes more powerful seals. These are metal, wood, water, fire and earth. I know you are fluent in the old language, the ancient one you are not. Sometimes you'll read a book on seals, and they won't use our language, because these are the ancient seals:_jīn, mù, shuǐ, huǒ, tǔ,_" Naruto rubbed her temples in frustration, it had taken her years of reluctant tutoring for her to learn the old language, finding out there was an ancient one made her want to hit something, and hard.

'Next are the five chakra elements, which you should already be familiar with: lightening, wind, water, fire and earth. These are never referred to in the ancient language, but very frequently go by their old names—"

"Kaminari, kaze, mizu, hi and tsuchi," Naruto butt in, hoping that Jiraiya would not try to teach her things she already knew. She didn't want this training to drag on; she'd do everything in her power to make it go for the shortest time possible.

"Yes that's correct," Jiraiya smiled his white teeth orange from the setting sun. "Okay so, 'straight lines' or kind of rectangular seals are links in a way. They bind one seal to another or are how chakra travels to specific points. Swirls are epicentres generally and circles show life cycles. Many seals need to be in circle formations in order for the chakra to go around the seal like an undisturbed network. Circular seals can be reused, or used for long periods of time until it is broken down or if the seals chakra capability is over extended. Some seals have circles incorporated into them; however the seal itself is not a circle. Seals which are not circular are instantaneous seals such as explosive tags which can only be used once."

Naruto felt the veins in her head pulsing as she tried to process the information he was spewing out faster than she could write it all down. She completely and utterly blamed him if she couldn't understand her own writing—which was already bad enough, as he had pointed out many times.

"Compatible animals tend to come in threes: Rat, Dragon and Monkey, Ox, Snake and Rooster, Tiger, Horse and Dog and last of all Rabbit, Goat and Pig. Each animal also has a specific direction when put into circles: N is Rat, NNE is Ox, ENE is Tiger, E is Rabbit, ESE is Dragon, SES is Snake, S is Horse, SWS is Sheep, WSW is Monkey, W is Rooster, WNW is Dog and NWN is Pig. An imbalance is created when an odd-numbered seal is placed on top of an even-numbered seal and vice-versa, as you saw when Orochimaru" Jiraiya paused for a split second at the mention of his name, "placed the Gogyō Fūin, or Five Elements Seal, on top of your Eight Trigram Seal. After you get all this knowledge you incorporate it into—"

"STOP! For the love of God my brain is going to explode!" Naruto slammed her hands down on the table, ink splotching her pages of notes. She banged her head on the table, her hands in her hair. Jiraiya looked to her stunned, he hadn't realised how much he had actually gone through in such a short time, as soon as he started talking about seal basics he got bored and always tried to get to the more interesting stuff. He smiled and rubbed the nape of his neck apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I was rushing a little,"

"A little?! My brain is going to turn to mush and my hand is going to fall off by trying to catch up! It was in no way a _little _fast," Naruto didn't want to snap at the man, but she was tired and just couldn't keep up!

"Okay, that will be enough for the day; we'll take a break and continue tomorrow. Slower," he added on the end when seeing Naruto's exasperated and tired look. Naruto instantly stood and walked to the corner where her bed was situated, collapsing into the welcoming sheets and falling asleep soon after.

Jiraiya smiled at the blonde and walked over to her bed. He removed her bulky jacket and shoes before pulling the blanket up to her shoulders. He pulled her hair from its band slowly so as not to wake her. After a last glance at the girl he walked back to the desk and looked at Naruto's book. He sighed at the near unintelligible writing, made worse by the haste which she had written.

Sitting down in the chair she'd occupied, he found clean sheets of paper and prepared to write. There was no way he was letting his student, his god-daughter, have to spend time trying to decipher what was written there. With a tired smile on his face, he got ready for a late night of writing as he place the brush to paper.

XxXxX

**I am SO sorry for the late update; I have been putting off this chapter because of writers block and because I think it is so boring and uneventful! But I know it is a chapter that needs to be done in order for the story to continue, so I apologise now that you had to wait so long for a chapter where barely anything happens!**

**I only had writers block because of how boring I knew it would be haha. I have also been in and out of doctors and hospitals for the past few weeks so I was using that as an excuse not to write. Bad excuse, sorry. It's nothing too terrible so don't worry about me.**

**I hope you did enjoy the update however, tell me what could have been better and I'll work to improve in future chapters. Merry Christmas/Happy holidays and Happy new year!**

**Tell me your resolutions!**

**Oh and if you don't like her nickname 'Mahna' from Jiraiya or thought it was too random I apologise, I really wanted something to connect them and I eventually came up with Mahna**


	10. Chapter 10: Eleven

Chapter Ten: Eleven

The once silent night was polluted by thundering explosions, the owls' cries highlighting the death call that was to come. Her dainty hands were drenched by a sticky red liquid, the ashen skin stained dark. The green glow surrounding her fingers shined like a beacon in the dimming light, the chakra seeping into the gushing wounds. The man shook, his trembling feeling measurable on the Richter scale. Blood gushed from his mouth, expelled from his lungs violently as he felt himself begin to go cold, his icy limbs numb.

He remembered his wife in those last moments. Even the little things came to his mind now, the inky black fabric of her dress which had flowed like ocean waves covering her bulging belly, her stunning strawberry blonde hair which shined like copper in the sunlight. Looking to his left he watched as the last of the sun's rays fell beyond the horizon. Religion had never been part of his mantra, though at that moment he prayed and pleaded to whoever would listen, begging that this war would let his wife live happily. He prayed that his unborn child will grow to be strong and protect their family.

A tear fell from his eye as the light in his eyes disappeared along with the sun, the explosions all around falling on deaf ears. His body lying still. The blood stained hands above him began to thrust more chakra into his body as they began to pump his chest.

"Rin he's gone you have to stop!" Obito's strong hands began to pry her body off the man below her.

"No I can save him! I can!" she thrashed at Obito's constricting arms; his hands locked together preventing her escape. A blur of yellow tackled the two children; a barrage of kunai sawing passed, their sharpened edges slicing the chilling air.

"Rin you need to calm down, he is dead, there are others who still need your medical attention," Minato's deep soothing voice was like strong arms comforting a child, a gate that kept them safe. Rin nodded her head and forced shuddering breaths into her lungs. He was right, she was a medic ninja and the people here relied on her to stay calm and heal to the best of her ability, something she would not be capable of doing in her panicked state.

A voice sounded through the crackling earpieces which everyone grudgingly donned. The voice was barely audible above the static which drowned the voice in prickling white noise.

"Back-…sent…five…-inutes…them off…-age," Obito ripped the contraption off his ear and looked to his sensei.

"The hell did they say?" Minato frowned, his dirtied yet elegant hand pressing the earpiece further into his ear. He brushed his grimy hair from his eyes when a smile spread across his face, his teeth almost shining through the darkening night.

"Backup's coming, I think we're in for a pleasant surprise," a large explosion sounded nearby and before either Obito or Rin could react, debris of varying sizes were thrown in their direction. The jagged pieces of wood splintered upon the shattering impact of the nearby trees. A dark figure flew in their direction, the limp body thrown towards them at a blinding speed. Minato moved instantly catching the body with a loud '_oomph_', cradling the person in his strong arms as they were pushed back.

"Kakashi!" Rin yelled, helping to drag the boy's body off their sensei. Kakashi groaned and sat up, his forehead protector was loose falling across his left eye. Wincing as he moved he tried to tie the annoying fabric back into place across his forehead. A hiss escaped his lips before he looked down to his loosely hanging arm. _Great, it's dislocated_ he thought, berating himself for being so careless. "Kakashi lie down," he glared at his teammate and proceeded to stand up. A strong shove to his chest forced the boy painfully to the ground, a restricted cry of pain rolling in this throat.

"You should've just listened to her Kakashi," Minato said in an accusatory voice. Kakashi glared daggers at his sensei, the anger in his eyes enough to scare a Shinobi, had that Shinobi been anyone other than Namikaze Minato. Rin proceeded to roll up her backpack and placed it between his arm and torso. Placing her foot on the bag she pushed into it while slowly pulling the arm. Kakashi didn't make a sound as he felt his muscles spasm, the grinding of his shoulder, nothing compared to the many wounds he'd had in the past. The shoulder finally popped into place, Kakashi's body rolling into itself briefly before straightening out again.

"I need to put it into a sling,"

"No, it'll be fine." Kakashi began to stand again. Rin looked to their sensei pleadingly, hoping for the man's superiority to force her teammate to comply once again. Minato shook his head to her and stood alongside his student.

"Just heal it as much as you can Rin, he'll be able to fight," Rin frowned in annoyance before placing her glowing hands around the boys shoulder, trying to strengthen the ligaments and tendons so as he could at least somewhat use his arm. She lowered her arms once she was to some extent satisfied that it wouldn't pop out again.

"Try to use your other arm more, it is still at risk of popping out of place again," Kakashi rolled his eyes and stood, readying himself to continue fighting. Minato had already disappeared as he spotted a large group of Shinobi's moving towards them.

Kakashi looked up suddenly, a large dragon made from rocks fell towards them, its gaping jaws showing rows upon rows of serrated teeth. The trio jumped aside as the dragon impacted the ground, a large crater was left in its monstrous wake. The three slowly began to pick themselves up, dust and pebble falling off them as they moved. Vibrations began to tickle beneath their feet, Kakashi stopped and looked to his teammate in confusion. _The reverberations from an explosion would have stopped by now, _Obito thought as he looked around.

"Something's not right, we should really get out of he-" His words were cut short as a large cloud of dust burst out of the centre of the crater. Water bubbled from below them, the liquid softening the dirt to mud, forming a giant gaping hole in the crater. Like quicksand from the movies, the dirt began sinking down towards the divide, taking the three Shinobi's with it!

Another explosion detonated at the top of the crater, debris flying in every direction. Rin looked up in terror just as a large chunk of wood collided with her head. Obito and Kakashi could do nothing but watch as the girl swayed slightly on her feet before her body fell back. The boys tried to move towards her quickly rolling body, the mud sucking them deeper and further down into the gaping hole as they struggled. The sucking sound of the mud was sickening, its pungent smell filling their nostrils like burning hot irons.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" Kakashi mouth lit ablaze with burning fire, the heated stream projecting forward. The mud began to harden and crumble before being engulfed again in a pool of mud. Kakashi cursed below his breath, the mud beginning to rise higher and higher.

"Rin!" Obito crushed the girl's body to his. Wiggling his arms beneath her body he pushed to the sky, propelling her body up and out of the mud hole.

"Idiot! You just caused yourself to sink further!" Kakashi berated as he grabbed onto a root that slipped between his fingers. His motion halted, bending slightly he felt around in his weapons pouch for ninja wire. The sharp wire twisted around his hand as he pulled the wire from the mud painfully slowly. With a grunt the wire was freed, releasing his arm from the mud and pulling his arm back to throw.

A familiar cutting sound of slicing air caused the two boys eyes to widen. A haywire kunai sawed passed Obito's head, the offending metal projectile disappearing into the mud in front of him.

"Shit…shit, shit, shit!" Obito cried out in frustration trying to free himself.

A rope fell from the top of the crater, hitting Obito directly in the head. The boy grabbed on, his grimy hands holding the rope with a vice like grip. With a sudden yank, Obito's body began to be dragged upwards, the sickening sucking of the mud loud to his ears as he was forced out.

Kakashi watched as his teammate was dragged out to 'safety' by an unknown rescuer. He gasped as the root unearthed itself sending a fresh flow of mud to crash into chest, more fast and ferocious as it had previously. It wasn't long before the mud had reached his shoulders, completely engulfing his arms.

Concentrating, he focused on the technique he'd been working on. The moulded the chakra in his palms. The familiar crackling feeling washed over him, the lightening chakra tingling up his forearms.

He growled in frustration when the chakra was disrupted and disappeared, the mud crawling above his shoulders to the base of his neck. He still just couldn't get it to work! Pumping chakra to the bottom of his feet he tried to stop his sinking as if he were practicing the water walking exercise. His shoulders felt the cold rush of air as they broke free from the surface of the rampaging mud. Pushing chakra through his hands he gripped at the surface, slowly paddling his way through the mud and to the surface.

His breath hitched when he heard the whistling of a kunai, the unmistakable flapping sound of an explosive tag trailing it. He watched in dread as it landed just metres from him, directly in his path.

"Oh shi-" the explosion was thundering, the mud rising in a tidal wave. Kakashi grit his teeth as he watched the mud slowly rise above him, its shadow surrounding him. Several more kunai came showering down on his position, getting embedded in the tidal wave of mud.

His eyes were forced closed as the wave hit him with tremendous force, blinded and deaf Kakashi began to panic, his body tumbling below the mud not sure which way was up. He thrashed his arms around trying to find something, anything to hold onto. This couldn't be the way, was he seriously going to die by being swallowed by mud?!

He felt the chakra flowing all around him from the Shinobi that had caused the earth to become like quicksand. _He's still controlling the mud_, the thought actually calmed Kakashi, it was nice to know that if he were going to die, it would be at the hands of a Shinobi's attack and not some bloody _mud_ from Mother Nature. Though Mother Nature was the most sinister and notorious serial killer out there, he didn't intend to die by her hands.

His panicked mind began to calm, his arms moving slower as he searched for something to hold, lungs burning hot from lack of oxygen. His body lightened when his fingers brushed something. Reaching out with both hands he tried to grab a hold of whatever it was.

After a few seconds he felt it, the faintly familiar feeling of another person's hand in his own. Warmth shot up his arm; he could feel the raw and unfamiliar chakra as it passed from their body to his. The flame of energy lit his body ablaze with heat, cooling the burn that was within his chest. He was quickly yanked towards them until their arms embraced his lean and lanky frame, the contact causing the heat to spread around his entire body.

Through the warmth he didn't even resist when the other person began to tug down his mask. Pressing their lips together he felt his lungs fill with air, the blinding pain in his chest subsiding even further with the new air and chakra circulating his system. The two began to rise, the mud sliding across their skin, debris and kunai cutting at their bodies. Subconsciously Kakashi wrapped his arms around the other person, not wanting the warm feeling to dissipate.

The two finally emerged, breaking through the surface of mud, their mouths agape as they sucked in air greedily. The silence was overcome with blaring noise, ricocheting explosions, screams of pain and pleading, the crunch of earth beneath feet. The noise was drowned by his fast heartbeat. He didn't understand, he had nearly died or been in serious danger on numerous occasions; and not once had he had a reaction like that when someone had saved him. But this time, this was different.

Wetness began to clear the mud from his eyes, allowing him to crack them open. He looked up to see grey skies crying rain across the battlefield. Within the mournful conditions however, a mop of bright golden hair was the centre of his attention, contrasting greatly to the grey and dreary surroundings. Their hair shown with splendour despite being previously covered in mud, _Minato?_ Kakashi thought initially, however as he looked closer at the blonde locks he realised they were much too long, and their body much too small to be his sensei.

He blinked his eyes rapidly before pushing away, clearing his throat he nodded to his saviour—shuddering at the thought—before saying a quick and quiet 'thank you'.

"Naruto!" Obito yelled, a giant smile cracked across his face like the Cheshire cat. The boy hugged the girl with a crushing force, smearing his roughly cleaned clothes with a fresh coating of mud. Rin too quickly scurried forward on all fours to give the girl a hug, uncaring of the grime that covered her from head to toe. Kakashi shuddered when he saw her face, her once cerulean crystalline eyes shining yellow with valour, orange pigment surrounding her large eyes.

The girl had been gone longer than planned, what was meant to be a month turned into two, then to four and it was almost to no surprise when she'd been gone for nearly an entire year.

"Honestly Kakashi, it's been ten months and _that_ is the greeting you give her?" Rin scolded him. Kakashi simply answered with a rolled of his dark grey eyes and stood, wiping bits of mud off his dripping wet clothes as the rain aided to wash it away. He just couldn't believe this situation. Had he really just been about to die in a pool of mud? Seriously? He felt like laughing at the ridiculousness of it, he obviously was not strong enough if he let something like _that_ get the better of him, whether a Shinobi was controlling it or not.

Mud stained the bottom half of his face, blocking his nose and keeping his lips sealed. He wiped at it, aiding the now pouring rain. Once it was mostly gone he pulled a—thankfully clean and dry—cloth from his thigh holster, wrapping it around his face before anyone even had time to watch and see his face. The chakra infused masked filtered the air he breathed, the fresh wind filling his lungs.

Another explosion sounded nearby, Kakashi acted quickly as he saw a body being flown backwards haphazardly. He reached out and grabbed the Konoha flak jacket, spinning slightly from the momentum as he tried to slow them down. Another pair of hands aided him, slowing the young Shinobi to a stop instantly.

It was a girl their age, a newly promoted Chūnin. She looked to Kakashi and smiled a thank you; he nodded in return and looked up, unsurprised to see Naruto staring back at him, a breathtakingly large smiled donned on her face.

"Good to see you comrade," Kakashi looked at her with a raised eyebrow, however Naruto could still see the amusement reluctantly shining through his eyes. The girl looked up then, only now noticing Naruto, before she could thank the blonde however her eyes fluttered closed as exhaustion overcame her. Naruto picked her up and darted over to Rin, placing the girl gingerly at her teammate's feet before her and Kakashi disappeared. Rin smiled as she watched them go. It was nice to have the team together again.

xXxXx

Team Minato was a force to be reckoned with, despite the whole team not being together for ten months, nothing deterred them as they almost danced around each other in battle. The team quickly adjusted to Naruto's change in taijutsu and ninjutsu, and Naruto quickly adjusted to theirs.

Obito and Naruto darted forward, their steps beating a steady rhythm. Raising their hands simultaneously they began to mould their chakra, hand signs moving at blinding speeds.

"Fujon Chakka no Justsu!" they yelled together in the ancient language. A Jetstream of air blasted from Naruto's mouth while a flamethrower of fire spewed from Obito's. The two came together, the wind weak enough for the fire to engulf it, the power increase raging to scorching levels, burning everything in its path.

Kakashi to their right was squaring off with a large burley ninja, his bulging muscles pulsing with veins as he shot forward with rage. Kakashi may not have been as large or strong, in fact he was grossly undersized compared to the man. What he did have however, was that he was much, much faster, precise and cool headed, which can win you nearly any battle.

He ducked low, his leg sweeping the ground with a wave of muck as he tried to trip the bear of a man—however he was expecting it. Stepping quickly back, the large Iwa Shinobi watched his feet, expecting Kakashi to strike low to compensate for his height, trying to get the lesser most guarded areas. The man bellowed a low brawny yell as he brought his fist back, covering itself in an amour of earth. He brought his fist down with an almost elegantly swift blow, striking the ground with impeccable force. Walls of earth sprang from the ground, large craters forming with deadly spikes.

Kakashi manoeuvred his body with flexibility a gymnast would envy as he ferociously avoided the killer earth. His fingers began to tremble, heat making them look as if they flickered as he pumped chakra through them. His brow knit, teeth grinding he concentrated as hard as he could. Lightning chakra sparked from his fingers, flickering uncontrollably, the sharp chakra burning his skin. Clenching his hands into fists, he began to fight back.

Earth began to crumble around him, the lightning chakra obliterating the rock around him. The burly ninja's eyes widened in surprise as he watched the _child_ break his way through his technique. It sent the man into a rage, his vision blurred red.

Blindly running forward he brought his earthen fist back, ready to strike when a kunai embedded itself in his chest, then another, and another—the man was completely unfazed. Kakashi and the man met half way on _solid _ground, kicks and fists were met, the incomplete lightning chakra still burning the man's amour, the rock crumbling away slowly to reveal flushed skin.

Kakashi's fatigue showed as the lightning chakra began to run low, twitching and dissipating from his fingers. The man forced himself towards him again arms wide and ready to crush his skull. He fell backwards, sliding across the muddy ground between the man's legs, he caught his thick leg with his burnt hand, jarringly halting his movement. Kakashi's shoulder protested as it tried to force its way out of its socket again.

Kakashi bared his teeth and made no sound as he flipped himself to his feet, and sprang onto the man's back, climbing up his seven foot frame. Reaching the Shinobi's shoulders he ducked to avoid the wildly swinging blows from the squirming man beneath him. When there was a short break of movement Kakashi struck.

Bringing his elbow back he rammed it into the back of the giant's neck, again, and again. He was out of Kunai, he had no more Shuriken, he had nothing but his fists, and this guy was not going down easily.

Kakashi couldn't react fast enough when a muddy fist grasped his hair and yanked, hard. A yell begrudgingly escaped his mouth as he was flipped over the man's shoulders and dangled before him, his feet over two feet above the ground. He grabbed the man's crumbling arm and pulled his legs up quickly, wrapping them around his forearm, ready to dislocate his elbow or break a bone, only to be punched roughly in the side, forcing out a grunt and stopping his movement. A crewel smile lit up the man's face as he looked into Kakashi's pained and annoyed face.

"I'm gonna enjoy rippin' the skin off ya little scrawny scalp, I think I'll even keep ya hair as a hat, be nice 'n' cosy in the winter ya hear? Gets real cold around some parts, 'n' I just know ya bitch mother would love to see her sons hair on me head as I—AH!" The man's threat was cut off with a yell as a kunai was embedded in his forearm, his grip slightly loosening for a second from Kakashi's hair.

However a second was all Kakashi needed.

Ripping the kunai from the man's arm, Kakashi sliced at the fingers tangled in his silver mane of hair. He grunted as he fell, some hair being brutally ripped from his scalp, the man fingers falling in front of his face.

The Shinobi began to scream bloody Mary, as he clutched the stumpy fingers in his left hand. Kakashi wasted no time, before the man could recover from the pain like any true Shinobi would he darted forward, jumping at the man the kunai came within mere centimetres from his throat before he was brutally smacked aside.

_Damn, he recovered faster than I expected_, Kakashi thought as he watched the man's eyes become glassy and unfocused, moving in a blind rage. Kakashi looked at the man confused, wondering if he was even conscious or just moving with no mental thought what so ever. With a tired shrug he moved forward, kunai in his left hand, not trusting his right to do the job correctly, his shoulder screaming in pain.

He moved up behind the man again circling a few times as the bear if a man thrashed wildly as if he were rabid, though Kakashi didn't put the thought completely out of mind. After a few long seconds he found his opening, jumping with chakra induced feet, he barrelled into the man's back, making him stumble forward.

Climbing up again he forced his tired arms to pulled his weight up the man's back, reaching the shoulders he held on for dear life as the man thrashed violently. He positioned his kunai the best he could, ready to pierce his spine right between the vertebrae when he suddenly felt like he were falling. But it was no illusion. He really was, time felt slow when he saw the man's back coming towards him, he was going to be squished, sandwiched between the ground and this giant.

Bringing his arm back he struck, the kunai went only a few centimetres deep when he felt a body collide with his. But it wasn't the crushing body he was expecting on top of him, it was a body of a much smaller build crashing into the _side_ of him. They flew for a second before Kakashi felt the familiar yet foreign warmth of the chakra coursing through his coils.

Instinctively yet subconsciously he reached for it, wrapping his arms around their smaller body he held them close, flipping so as his body was below theirs. He felt them twist, making him frown as they fell back to the ground. Both of them taking the impact of the ground, the other person rolling expertly so as he barely felt a thing despite being so sore and tired only a second or two ago when he was wrestling with the giant Shinobi.

They came to a stop as a tangle of arms and legs, Kakashi glanced to his right to see the burly man on the ground twitching, blood gurgling from his mouth and his punctured throat where he had fallen on the kunai, pushing it the rest of the way in. He breathed heavily, he couldn't believe he had actually just taken down a Jounin, as a Chūnin that was a damn feat, and it took everything out of him. He stiffly moved his neck to look left watching as Naruto reached out to him. She had those yellow eyes again, they spooked him a little and made him sad, he much preferred the beautiful crystalline blue that was usually her eyes, not that _anyone _would ever know that. Actually he needs a memory eraser, not even he wants to remember ever thinking that.

The warmth coursed through his body again when she gingerly wrapped her elbows under his arms, pulling him back under the cover of the trees. They sat there silently, calming their breathing when Iwa Shinobi's came into view. The two Chūnin's watched as they bent over the large man, saying his name as 'Michio'. Naruto and Kakashi both scoffed inwardly. _Man with the strength of three thousand_ may have been the case, was the man not a complete lunatic and out of his mind. Had he been more level headed Kakashi would have had his ass handed to him on a rock platter, not that Kakashi would ever admit that.

Naruto was beginning to sweat, it was extremely hard to keep her enormous chakra reserves hidden, and her sage mode was fading quickly, soon to leave her with no cloak to hide beneath. Kakashi barely had to try; his reserves were just that low. He looked to Naruto and watched her struggle, not sure what to do, watching as the pigment slowly faded from around her eyes, the iris's fading back to the azure blue he was used to. She tried with all her will to supress her chakra, doing better than she would have thought possible.

Her eyes widened when one of the Iwa Shinobi's suddenly turned in their direction, a flurry of shuriken raining down on them. Naruto swore and pushed Kakashi behind a tree and sprang forward. She wasn't just re-learning sage mode and having Jiraiya drill fuinjutsu in her head for the past ten months. No, she had also been training hard to re-aquatint her body with the Kyūbi's chakra. The Kyūbi inside Kushina was still slowly dwindling inside her seal, she unfortunately tended to avoid her mother for the fear that she would instantly know something wasn't right.

She remembered the feeling of other Jinchūriki, she always just knew what they were and vice versa. Whenever Jinchūriki met, they always knew what the other was; it was almost like the Bijū's inside them just called for each other. And it was ten times worse with Kushina, especially since they both contained the same Bijū, the pull was incredible. The chakra pooled inside Naruto faster when they were closer. It broke her heart. She was in body eleven now, she'd been here since she was 'eight', and in all those years she'd been too terrified to interact with her mother. Whenever Minato brought her to team dinners she thought of excuses not to attend. It depressed her, she was certain Kushina thought Naruto hated her, she didn't though, she loved her with all her heart.

Be she just couldn't reveal her secret just yet; it could completely screw up her conception. If they knew they had a daughter, they could get confused, not know whether they should plan her conception or be too scared to really do anything. She didn't even know if she had to be conceived to stay here, if she wasn't born would she disappear? If she _was_ born would the same thing happen to her as it did the Kyūbi? Would the stronger of the two of them absorb the other? Would she kill her own self, her parent's first baby? She couldn't even stomach the thought; she would soon take her own life if it meant avoiding that situation. It always made her chuckle; she'd kill herself to keep her own life.

Her eyes bled red and her teeth and claws grew and sharpened. She charged forward with determination, there is no way they wouldn't have seen her move Kakashi behind the tree. They'd kill her then kill or torture him, she couldn't allow that, and no matter how much her mind screamed at her, there was no way she could reason with these Shinobi's. They were only taking orders, but they are orders they wouldn't go back on. This is a war, they will kill her if she doesn't kill or incapacitate them first.

Claws ablaze with the Kyūbi's chakra she was on them in less than a second. They recovered from their shock from her monstrous appearance when the first comrade fell; her body perched atop his body in a menacing crouch. She growled, her chest building with chakra before letting out a shockwave inducing roar. The Iwa Shinobi's braced themselves as they were sent flying backwards. She looked at their bodies tentatively, hoping they didn't get back up. Naruto growled again when three of them stood again.

She clapped her hands together, slowly pulling them apart. The air around her began to build between her palms, the wind blurring into a sphere, much like the Rasengan. If she couldn't use the technique until someone in this timeline taught it to her, she'd make her own techniques that didn't have anything to do with making freaking awesome variables of the Rasengan, which is all she really did when she thought about it...This one just kind of stole the concept is all.

Her hair whipped around her face, as the wind became stronger and more condensed, the trees began to bend towards her. She was like the sun, everything gravitating towards her, spinning around her as if they were the planets. It took all of her concentration not to drag Kakashi—literally—into the technique. The Shinobi's in front of her began to slide across the muddy ground, the rain that still fell stung all their faces as the wind increased.

They couldn't hold on, they flew towards the girl, gasping when her piercing blood red eyes locked on their forms. The wind suddenly died within the blink of an eye, the dense ball spinning between her palms moving with dangerous ferocity, however explicitly controlled. She slowly moved her hands in front of her at arm's length. She touches her thumbs and pointer fingers together making the shape of a spade

"Futon: Shogekiha" the dense ball of wind and chakra suddenly blasted in front of her with raw power, a triangular crater spread in front of her, everything in her path obliterated. Naruto dropped her eyes to her hands, blue transitioning back into her eyes. The killing never got easier, no matter whom she killed and how fast, she feels sad every time she took a life. That was someone's; mother, brother, son, daughter, father, friend, cousin, anything. Every single person she kills hurts another.

She turned swiftly then to go back to Kakashi. To her surprise the boy was standing behind her on wobbly legs looking at her incredulously. His arm crossed his torso, hand clutching his right arm to his body. She blinked at him, lost for words. _How long has he been standing there?_ She was mad, she could have seriously hurt him with that attack.

She saw Kakashi narrow his eyes in when she had. He too was furious. He'd been training ferociously for the last ten months, putting everything he had into his training, and yet here she was, so many steps ahead of him.

He looked down to the ground in annoyance avoiding meeting Naruto's eyes in fear that she'd see the jealousy he so furiously felt. Naruto's heart stung when Kakashi refused to meet her eyes, _he thinks I'm a monster like the rest of them, he saw my Kyūbi state, he's disgusted_, the thoughts were running through her head at the speed of light as she too dropped her eyes to the ground.

"Jesus," the two teenagers quickly turned to the sound to see a Konoha Shinobi, one Naruto didn't know, standing at the edge of the clearing. His eyes were wide and incredulous as he looked between the two young Chūnin's and the completely demolished surroundings.

"Kakashi needs medical treatment, I need to take him to either Nohara Rin or the nearest medical checkpoint," Naruto's voice was monotone and sounded dead, completely void of the usual light hearted tone she donned. Kakashi looked to her questioningly, confused and not understanding why she suddenly seemed so down. He looked to the crater and thought of a possible cause. This was the first time she'd killed since the incident with the Iwa Shinobi, only this time she didn't choke at the last minute. This time she killed them herself without the intervention from Minato.

"Naruto," Kakashi wasn't sure what he was going to say, and neither did Naruto. Scenarios ran through her mind, _Naruto maybe we shouldn't be on the same team, Naruto what kind of monster are you? Naruto…just leave._ So many things to say, so many possibilities to hurt her. This never used to affect her so much, she used to be able to smile and play it off, but not when it was Kakashi, not when Kakashi had always been with her in her past life supporting her.

"You need medical attention Kakashi," she lightly grabbed his good arm and pulled him gently in the direction of the newly arrived Shinobi.

"Do I even want to know what happened here?" one look at the two children's faces made him cringe, mumbling a quick 'I'll take that as a no' under his breath.

"Do you know where Nohara Rin is?" Naruto asked again, more sadness and resignation etched into her voice.

"Y-yeah, the second tent at section 23A," Naruto mumbled a 'thanks', nodding to the man and dragging Kakashi gently after her. The boy stayed quiet, not sure what to say to her. He didn't know how to comfort like Minato, he was definitely the expert, he doubted he could ever be a Jounin sensei, and if he did become one he would be a terrible one.

"Why?" he looked up to Naruto startled, his charcoal eyes meeting her blue ones. He hadn't realised he has spoken out loud.

"Um, I am just not good at consoling people. I don't think I would be very supportive after my students made their first kill," Naruto raised her eyebrows slightly and thought back, trying to remember when it had dawned on her that she had first taken a life and how Kakashi had handled it. She'd killed numerous times before she had finally broke, and when she did Kakashi was the first one there, arms wrapped around her in a somewhat awkward hug. The awkwardness of her sensei actually made her feel better, knowing that some things never changed. She had a feeling Kakashi could have brought out some amazing speeches or known exactly what to do from seeing how Minato handled things. However just sitting with Naruto and not saying anything was a nice change for Naruto, it was exactly what she had needed at the time. She smiled fondly at the memory, and looked back to Kakashi, finding it easier yet harder to look him in the eyes, still unsure what he thought of her.

"I think you'd make a great sensei, sure you'll make mistakes while you're at it, but none the less, I think you're students"—most of them anyway—"would rather no-one else," Naruto was very aware that all three of his students furthered their training with other sensei's: her with Jiraiya, Sakura with Tsunade and Sasuke with Orochimaru, not to mention Captain Yamato. However deep down, their sensei was and always will be Kakashi. Even with Minato as her sensei, she still felt an undeniable connection to her silver haired sensei-turned-teammate

Kakashi looked to her in surprise and he felt warmth spread to his face from the compliment, glad he had a mask to hide behind and that the rain stuck his hair to his exposed skin.

"Well I guess that makes one of us," Naruto saw his eyes narrow in a rare soft smile which calmed her nerves. Perhaps she had misunderstood and he didn't hate her, but she still couldn't figure out why he wouldn't look at her earlier.

"What brought this up?" She finally asked after a few more seconds of silence. Kakashi's eyes narrowed in concentration then, obviously trying to properly word his answer.

"You looked troubled over…Those Shinobi's death"—he said 'death' quietly, not knowing how she would react—"I didn't know how to console you," Naruto blinked at him again in surprise, _was that why he wouldn't look at me?_ She wondered, more relief creeping over her. She chuckled slightly; earning a glare from Kakashi, causing her to smile her usual bright smile which in return made Kakashi feel better that she was once again acting normal.

"It is different for everyone, some want people to reassure them, others would prefer to be alone. I think generally what works best for me is not always someone telling me everything will be okay but someone _showing_ me that everything will be okay. You know? Like a hug or something," she laughed, thinking how funny it sounded. Her laughter stopped however when she felt arms around her, she reacted subconsciously and wrapped her arms around them.

Kakashi held her for only a few seconds before letting go quickly and stepping aside, a visible blush staining all the way up to his ears. Naruto smiled a small sweet smile at her teammate, that was probably a lot harder for Kakashi to do now than it would have been when they were older, in the past/future. It was the same yet different, since the first time round the hug lasted at least 30 minutes and ended with the two falling asleep with Naruto in his arms from physical and mental exhaustion on the cold, hard earth. Though it had also been one of the best sleeps she'd had during the war.

"Thank you Kakashi," she meant it, no-one, not from this life or the past, had been with her as much as Kakashi had. He replied with a shrug of his shoulders, playing indifferent. Not long after their exchange did they reach the section they were looking for. As soon as Rin saw them she pounced, turning full medic on them in an instant. She was obviously exhausted as she healed their wounds, her green glowing hands mending them from the inside out. She looked over to see Obito and Minato at the other end of the tent, their back against each other's as they slumbered—Obito considerably deeper than Minato.

Said blonde cracked open an eye and looked in their direction, smiling a beautifully warm smile. Naruto smiled back, watching as tension released from his shoulders, leaning more into his student and falling a little deeper into sleep than before.

She was finally home.

xXxXx

The team sat in a booth back in Konoha after being on the battlefield for so long. It was about a week after Naruto had returned and the weather had begun to cool, the late October leaves beginning to fall from the trees in beautiful shades of orange and brown.

Autumn had always been Naruto's favourite and least favourite time of year. Favourite, because of the magnificent colours that the leaves turned, making the fire the illuminated the leaf just that much more realistic and palpable. However it was also her least favourite, because it was her birthday, and with her birthday came pain and misery.

The dinner was a cheerful yet dim experience. It was such a great occasion having the whole team together again, however the war had caused the atmosphere of the restaurant to be relatively bleak, so their celebration was a little more quiet than they would have usually been.

They shared stories and told jokes, ate a great meal considering the food shortages and all together raised the spirits of their team and a few others in the restaurant at the time.

After dinner they split up like usual, Minato, Rin and Obito heading towards the more family orientated part of Konoha, while Kakashi and Naruto headed towards where the single person apartments were situated. Kakashi twitched nervously next to Naruto, causing her to watch him oddly from the corner of her eye. She acted oblivious, however she was completely aware of her surroundings, and Kakashi was a part of those surroundings.

He stopped suddenly and reached into his thigh holster, from inside he tore out a terribly wrapped package and thrust it into Naruto's hands with a small 'here', before he started looking anywhere but at her. Naruto glanced down at the small package in surprise and back to Kakashi, their eyes met and he sighed.

"Well open it," he said in annoyance at having this prolonged. Naruto smiled slightly in amusement before giving the package her full attention. She unwrapped it quickly enough to satisfy her curiosity, but slowly enough to cause Kakashi to squirm more where he stood, sending a sadistic glee through her.

When it was opened fully she looked down and gasped, in her hand was a breathtakingly beautiful necklace. Dangling off the elegant yet sturdy chain was a blue and gold glass pendant shaped like lightning. Naruto stared at it in wonder; it was honestly one of the most beautiful pieces of jewellery she'd ever held in her life. She looked up to Kakashi with wide eyes, said boy still looking anywhere but at her.

"I was fighting a few months ago when I tried to do my lightning technique I have been trying to master."—tried being the key word she realised—"and after the battle, I stepped on something in the sand where my technique had collided once and I found that there. It just reminded me of you and since I remembered your birthday was in October and in case you were back I didn't want to be the only one without a present or anything and since your birthday was a few weeks ago, and you did get me that scroll last year," Kakashi trailed off and scratched the back of his head in frustration. "I just thought you might like it," he looked up, startled to see a small tear fall down one of Naruto's cheeks, changing course slightly when it reached one of her whisker marks.

He almost wasn't prepared when the blonde launched herself at him, arms tight around his neck. He slowly placed his arms on her back and patted lightly, unsure what to do. _Tears mean good things too right? She likes it?_ Kakashi's mind spun, not sure of how to take his teammates behaviour right now.

"Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder before pulling away, her eyes dry with no traces that she'd even cried. She handed the beautiful jewellery to Kakashi, startling him to a second, thinking she was returning it, before she turned around and lifted her long wavy hair into her hands to expose her neck. Kakashi quickly caught on and looped the necklace around her neck and clasped it in place. He stepped back and watched as she turned again to face him, her smile radiant as the pendant sat snugly and perfectly beneath her collarbone.

"Happy Birthday Naruto," Kakashi said finally as she walked back to their apartments in silence, just enjoying each other's presence.

xXxXx

**I am a million times sorry for how long it has been, but I seriously hadn't forgotten about this story! I have been messaging everyone that reviewed recently that I was finishing with final exams soon and would be writing the next chapter.**

**Unfortunately I was really overwhelmed by University; I was one of the few people to get into the Veterinary Science course straight from High School, starting the course when I was only 17 years old (turned 18 not long after [Feb 28****th****]) and let's just say that Uni and High School are very different and I had NO time to write, I was so unprepared :( I was stressing so bad. And then the night of my last exam after I was in my room just drinking ONE SINGLE celebratory drink of alcohol (since it is legal to drink at 18 here) aaaaaand I spilt some on my laptop keyboard and couldn't type on it and had to wait to get my dad's laptop…thoroughly PISSED.**

**But my crazy as hell exams are over for the first semester and I now have time to write during the Winter holidays! But don't get too excited since I will be busy as hell these holidays since I am also enjoying my time in Brisbane after living out in the middle of nowhere doing my course for so long.**

**I also thought I would TRY to write a longer chapter. I feel it was really drawn out and no real story development this chapter, but you guys at least deserve SOMETHING to read, and there are a few things here that will carry over into future chapters.**

**Hope you enjoyed it and I am excited to hear all what you think and don't be afraid to tell me a little about yourself. It is great knowing my readers a little more.**

**Thank you!**

**Tiarni aka Squishfie **** God I hate that name**

**P.s. Tell me if the grammar is terrible, I am super tired and may not have proof read it well.**


	11. Chapter 11: Eleven

Chapter 11 - Eleven

The two boys stared at one another, charcoal eyes meeting with searing black orbs. Their fingers twitched by their thighs, chakra already forming in their palms, ready to attack. Wind blew between them, laced with chakra, alerting them to the unnatural weather.

Minato watched them, could see their unrest as they waited for his signal. He stalled, not yet giving them the okay. It was deliberate, teaching them to be patient, patient but alert. He felt the wind pick up and looked to his student sitting to his left, her blonde hair pulled back into a rough pony tail as she watched the boys.

He smiled and looked back to the two boys in his team, it had been months since they had all trained together, and Naruto was obviously excited to see them spar.

Without warning, Minato dropped his hand, signalling the start of the spar.

They charged. Both meeting each other at the centre of the field, fists and feet agonisingly fast to an untrained eye. Minato watched scrutinisingly, analysing and dissecting their every move.

Kakashi surged forward, utilising his superior speed. Obito wasn't fast enough to keep up, however he was strong; his build was slightly broader than Kakashi's lean, streamline frame. The boys engaged in a quick taijutsu battle that lasted only a few seconds. Obito's fist connected with Kakashi's cheek, twisting his body to the side. The boy used the momentum, forgetting his stinging cheek he spun as fast as he could continuously, each leg lashing out with force at every turn.

With raised arms, Obito countered each attack, leaping backwards in short consecutive leaps to avoid most of Kakashi's blows. He brought his hands together in a familiar tiger seal. Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the motion, he stopped spinning, regaining his balance with trained ease.

"Katon: Gouakyū no jutsu!" Obito cried, a great stream of blazing fire spewing from his mouth. Kakashi rolled to the side, keeping low as he tried to stay out of the attack zone. He had underestimated the power; Obito had never used such force behind this technique before. He forced Kakashi back, the silver haired boy leaping back out of reach of the blazing inferno.

He looked down to his shoulder, the fabric of his sleeve singed. He flexed his hands and sighed, _could've been worse_, he thought dejectedly, almost reluctantly. He drew two kunai from his thigh holster, moving forward after barely a pause, not wanting to give Obito another chance to forge his chakra into another attack.

He should've stayed further away; Obito was an aspiring ninja with taijutsu. His broad frame was becoming perfectly attuned to quick yet powerful attacks. However Kakashi knew his weakness, no matter the situation, Obito always preferred ninjutsu. It was basically expected of him to be an expert at the art; his entire clan was practically famed for their ninjutsu. But Obito wasn't his clan, and the boy needed to realise this.

Kakashi realised this. He knew that if the boy tried and spent more time honing his taijutsu prowess and less time trying to be like the rest of his clan, Obito would soon be able to whoop his ass in a taijutsu battle. Kakashi felt as if it were the reason the boy just couldn't unlock his Sharingan, despite the numerous life threatening battles they had already faced. He didn't believe in fate or higher powers or anything, but even he felt like it was a sign telling Obito that ninjutsu just wasn't his main calling.

Obito too drew his own kunai when he saw the glint of his opponents. The two boys clashed again, sparks flew as metal met metal. That's when Kakashi saw it, Obito tried to find his opportunity to use another ninjutsu technique.

Minato sighed then, also seeing the slip.

Kakashi twisted quickly, his foot connecting with Obito's exposed gut. Moving after his rolling body, the lean boy was on him again in an instant, kunai raised and ready to strike.

"Stop," Minato's voice rang through the air, halting Kakashi's movement's instantly, his kunai mere centimetres from Obito's goggled face. "The kumite is over, Kakashi wins. Now do the reconciliation sign," Kakashi brought his right hand forward, meeting Obito's outstretched hand and helping him stand. They locked their index and middle fingers together with a short shake before letting go, walking back to their sensei.

"Good spar boys," Naruto stated loudly, her smile radiant. Kakashi felt himself become elated at the praise before squashing the feeling immediately. This allure he felt towards Naruto confused and unnerved him. He couldn't afford to feel close to them, it brought with it too many possibilities to hurt him and possibly the village. He couldn't afford to get into the situation where he had to choose between his comrades and the mission. The way to avoid such a situation is to not have comrades. No comrades meant no decision, no decision meant the mission always came first, no questions.

However his damn teammate was making it increasingly more difficult to follow this state of mind he had harboured for so long.

"Kakashi you did well like usual, however you need to train up your strength a little more. I know you're only eleven, and you obviously can't overdo it since that can stunt your future growth. However, you need the force behind your hit, it doesn't matter if you have the speed if the hits you bring don't do anything," Kakashi nodded but not without a raised brow and a pointed look towards his relatively beat up teammate.

His strength had increased, there was no doubt about it, however there was also no doubt that Obito's hit packed a bigger punch. He felt a good bruise forming on his cheek to prove it.

"Obito, you are an aspiring taijutsu expert. There is no doubt that you are extremely talented at ninjutsu, however if you really focused on taijutsu as your primary art, you could do a hell of a lot of damage. After that then you can integrate ninjustu into it, you'd be one tough act to follow. I saw you at the start of that fight; you landed a great hit on Kakashi. If you trained up a bit more, you would probably beat him in a straight up taijutsu battle." Obito smiled at the praise despite being disappointed in himself, he already knew what his sensei was telling him, he just didn't want to believe it. "You also need to know when you can't use ninjutsu. Kakashi will probably be a ninjutsu expert, unless you think you can, try not to beat someone at what they specialise in. This time I want you to fight Naruto, taijutsu only," Naruto grimaced; she like Kakashi was more of a ninjutsu specialist. Not to get her wrong, she was excellent at taijutsu, her stamina generally helping her outlast any opponent. However she just preferred being able to lash out epic moves with her chakra, not as much her fists.

She stood and walked towards the centre of the field, watching as Obito sorely did the same. Kakashi walked over to replace Naruto's vacated seat next to Rin, making the girl smile a little on the inside. She was no outward 'fan girl' as many were dubbed, but she didn't deny that she had a growing crush on her silver haired teammate.

Naruto and Obito smiled towards each other, hand raised in a half tiger-ram seal. The Seal of Confrontation. Without any warning, Minato's hand dropped. The two Shinobi charged with fists and feet flying in a flurry of kicks and hits.

Naruto growled, trying to morph her frog kata taijutsu style into one capable of being used without the natural energy that is meant to be used with it. She was flexible, bending and shifting around Obito's brawn powered taijutsu style. She slapped his hands and elbows, changing the movement of his punches. She got caught off guard when a foot implanted itself in her side. With a grunt she rolled, trying to use the momentum like she had seen Kakashi do earlier.

She slid to a halt on all fours, the bruise that would have formed already healing on her side. She stood and charged forward again, feeling out of place without her ninjutsu to back her up. After the two met in the middle, Naruto manoeuvred her way around Obito, slapping the palm of her hand into the back of Obito's skull. There was no chakra behind the hit, she knew how dangerous that could be, however she also knew that Obito was strong enough to most likely live from the attack had she used chakra. She just didn't want to take any chances.

Naruto moved in again, ready to strike him down. That's when she felt it. She froze, body ridged. Slowly her eyes turned to her left, looking to the edge of the clearing. She saw the colour red before her head twisted painfully, cheek flaring as Obito took her distraction to his advantage.

She didn't even brace herself as she fell, crashing with a painful thud on the ground. Her fear paralysed her, looking down she saw an old kunai jutting out of her right palm. Gripping it with her good hand she ripped it out, watching as the wound began to slowly sizzle. Slowly being the key word.

She understood why the Kyūbi was holding back.

She dug around in her thigh holster for some cloth, wrapping her 'slowly' healing hand. She stood and walked back to the centre of the field where Obito stood, his smile radiant.

"Who'd have thought that I would beat you huh?" Naruto rolled her eyes with a smile, looking to her sensei worriedly, and glad to see him distracted, though not glad to see _who_ he was distracted with.

"You got lucky," she said distractedly, putting her hand forward to do the reconciliation seal with Obito, signifying that they were still comrades. Obito scoffed at her remark and rolled his eyes. He headed over to the group, his smile growing incredibly wider.

"Kushina!" the woman turned and smiled at Obito. Naruto watched them all interact, she was so much like her mother, it hurt to purposefully exclude herself. She felt drawn to her, but she was smart enough to know that behind her and her mother's almost dim-witted exterior, they were both quite intelligent women in their own ways. She knew that Kushina would know instantly what she was; Naruto herself could sense the Kyūbi chakra coursing through her mother's veins. Despite Kurama practically merging with himself inside Naruto, he still pumped his chakra through her seal to her mothers. It would seem rather odd if she tried to use the Kyūbi's power, just to find it wasn't there anymore.

Another thing Naruto could admire was just how beautiful her mother was. She had spoken to Kakashi once about her; he'd stated that Kushina became renowned for her beauty and unique ninjutsu style as she grew up in Konoha. As Naruto looked to her mother, she could definitely see why. Kakashi also said once that she looked a lot like her mother, with the obvious overpowering features from her father.

_"Looks wise, you are a perfect 50/50 blend between your parents. Thankfully for you it works, you got all their good traits,"_—He pondered for a second, a mischievous gleam appearing in his eyes—_"personality and ninja skill wise you resemble your mother to a 'T', _that_ I don't know whether or not is a good trait," _Naruto had hit his arm playfully. She loved to hear that she was like her parents and he knew it too.

She never considered herself to be a beauty however. She had been so malnourished as a child that she was used to being stick insect skinny. It didn't help that she was around people like Ino constantly, who really was considered to be stunning. She never really dwelled on the topic, but when she did catch herself thinking about it, she always thought about what Kakashi had told her, feeding her imagination.

She heard a sigh, bringing her out of her memories. She looked to Rin to see her worriedly looking at her injured hand. She tended to spend less time healing the girl compared to her two male teammates, especially after Naruto had snapped at her during their first C rank mission. However she got worried every time she saw her teammate injured, especially when the girl didn't seem to be healing as fast as normal.

"Crap, are you okay?" Naruto jumped at the sound, looking to Kushina with wide eyes.

"I'm fine, just a flesh wound" Minato began to reassure his girlfriend before she could fuss over the blonde girl who seemed to avoid the red head like the plague. That fact hurt Minato, whenever he confronted Naruto about it she would drop the subject with little subtlety. Kushina either didn't know or didn't care when everyone looked at her. However Minato knew better, she had voiced her sadness numerous times to him whenever Naruto skipped out on gatherings when she found out Kushina would be there.

"Naruto are you sure? You should let Rin look at it," Minato had stopped when he looked to Naruto's hand, seeing that the wound was still bleeding.

"Holy dooly that's bleeding like mad for such a small wound," Kushina had moved forward, this is the closest the two had ever been before. The red head stood only a metre away before she froze suddenly. Kurama's chakra went wild between them, their seals reacting to one another.

Red began to bleed its way into Kushina's once violet eyes. Naruto felt Kurama growl inside her as he pumped his chakra through the seal, passing its way invisibly between them as Kushina called upon the power. She wasn't threatening Naruto, she was reassuring herself. The Kyūbi's power would give the necessary senses to better look into Naruto's hidden power; she could just _feel_ the power of a Bijū dwelling inside her.

Kushina moved forward suddenly, blindingly fast as she grabbed Naruto's arm. The contact felt electric. The blonde gasped, Kurama's power surged wildly at the contact. Naruto's eyes suddenly changed from blue to red, her features changing into the initial Jinchūriki form, identical to the one her mother donned at this very moment.

Naruto hissed an animalistic, cat-like hiss and tried to tear her arm out of Kushina's, the woman letting go in shock as she stared at the girl before her. Both of them stepped away from each other, their feral features reverting back to normal.

Minato stared between the two girls, eyes wide. The encounter between them had been short; he looked to his students, all of them looking at the pair in front of them. They didn't seem to really be piecing two and two together—besides Kakashi, who looked kind of close to it. The boy, besides looking frustrated as hell, looked to Naruto worriedly.

It was sweet; it had been a very long time since Kakashi had showed such an emotion for a comrade. The energetic girl, who reminded him so much of Kushina, seemed to be exactly what Kakashi needed to begin breaking him out of his shell. It was obvious the boy didn't realise it—and if he did he hid it expertly—but he had begun developing a small crush on the girl. Minato recognised the look he gave her, it was similar to the look he gave Kushina and vice versa when they were his age. He was ecstatic at the thought of Kakashi finally beginning to care for someone besides himself and Kushina.

Minato looked back to the girls in front of him, feeling the literal animosity between them. He felt like all the pieces were falling into place, despite numerous new questions arising. The power inside Naruto felt so familiar, because he felt that very presence every time he was with his girlfriend. Of course he had thought of that numerous times before, but he just didn't have any evidence that it could be the case.

Naruto either, contained a Bijū and was a Jinchūriki like Kushina, or somehow she had the Kyūbi's power implanted into her at a young age. It made sense as to why her village would want to kill her. He thought back to when they first met that day in the Academy playground, when he had gone to check out the graduating genin's, guessing who would be on his team (he admitted he was quite excited to become a sensei). He also thought back to Kakashi's birthday, the night the drunken ninja's attacked her and Kakashi. Naruto's outburst and the small stories she had told about her past coming together.

There was no doubt. She contained the power of a Bijū, and she had been condemned by her village for it. Especially if she only contained a collected sample of the Kyūbi's power, an extremely well known, dangerous Bijū, he couldn't understand how someone could willingly do that to a child.

It terrified him, knowing that she was probably completely aware that the purpose of her power was to most likely be able to go on par with the Jinchūriki of Konohagakure. Baring such a responsibility and knowledge must have been terrible for her; throughout all the years she had spent serving for Konoha so far, knowing that she was probably created to destroy it. He was suddenly brought out of his pondering at the sound of his girlfriend's voice.

"Would you like to take a walk with me Naruto?" she said, to Naruto it didn't really sound like an invitation she could refuse.

"I need to stay and train; I have been gone for so long. I need to reacquaint myself with my team," Naruto's eyes never left Kushina's bright violet orbs. Kushina looked to her beloved boyfriend, considering making the man order Naruto to go with her. She felt like kicking herself after the thought however after one look at his face. It was unfair of her to ask him to practically choose between her wishes and his student's.

"Well then you better be coming tonight! I am making an awesome feast, which includes salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant," she said, pointedly looking to Kakashi at the last part. The boy's eyes lit up, not only was Kushina's cooking amazing, but it was even better when Kushina herself made his favourite food. She always knew how to make Kakashi come to the team dinners voluntarily.

"I have an appointment with the Hokage tonight," Kushina's eyes softened, she thought of how Minato mentioned that the girl would see the Hokage monthly. She knew how hard it was to contain a Bijū; she too however had put the pieces together like Minato had. How hard it must be to live in the city you were most likely born and raised to destroy. Not only did she carry the burden of being a Jinchūriki, she carried the burden of being mistaken as a spy because of it, and her monthly check ups with the Hokage must be their way of watching over her.

"What's your favourite food Naruto?" the girl was taken aback, not expecting the question. She blinked a few times before looking at Kushina with a raised brow.

"I like miso ramen with roasted pork fillet or red bean soup,"

"Excellent, you better be there tonight after your meeting, because I am making that!" Kushina turned and walked back to Minato, kissing him on the cheek. He smiled in response and wrapped an arm around her waist; she smiled up at him lovingly and promised an amazing dinner tonight since the whole team will be there. She had turned her pointed stare to Naruto then, leaving no question as to whether or not she would be going to dinner. She would be going, no buts.

Kushina left soon after, she needed to go shopping for all the ingredients for the night. Rin walked up to Naruto and smiled her beautiful smile—the girl could give Ino a run for her money in the beauty department.

"You're coming tonight right?" Naruto fidgeted and looked up to her father. The man was looking back at her encouragingly. He could faintly understand now why she had avoided Kushina for so long, since they both contained Bijū's (or at least the power of one perhaps), there was no doubt Kushina would know of what she was.

"Yeah, I will come after my appointment," Rin smiled a wide grin, ecstatic that they will finally all have a dinner together. Kakashi smiled under his mask, hiding it with a cough, only causing Minato to start laughing.

"Alright Naruto, no more distractions, I want you to retry that spar with Obito."

xXxXx

Naruto arrived at the Hokage tower donned in civilian clothes. She had gone home, showered and changed, being in a terribly dirty state after training with Minato. She wore simple black jeans and a white T-shirt with the red Uzumaki spiral proudly situated in the centre of the chest. Over the top she wore a simple and light, burnt orange jacket to keep her warm in the early November chill.

Sarutobi raised his brows in surprise when he saw her. It wasn't often that ninja's wore anything besides their uniform or respective work outfits; it warmed him every time he did see them in casual clothes however. Especially during time of war, it made him feel better knowing that the occupation didn't always run their lives, that they could actually relax and enjoy leisure activities.

Inoshi stood in the corner of the room, what looked to be a rather large and bulky printer by his side. Naruto sighed, she hated having to sit and let the man rummage around in her brain, printing off her every thought and memory. She hated that the council made this mandatory; they didn't trust her, not one bit. The Hokage had negotiated with them, placating them by having Naruto present her memories to be read and documented every month, it also didn't help that it has nearly been ten months since the last documentation. They would never get the clearance to read hermemories, but someone did, and they always looked for any ill intent.

She had to admit though, after she died, it would probably become a cool story to read—maybe it would even be read at the academy. She thought against it however, the amount of pain and bloodshed she lived in her first life wasn't really academy rated.

"Before we get to privacy invasion I just need to tell you that Mum knows I contain a Bijū or at least something. I don't know what she and Dad have pieced together, but they know my power has something to do with a Bijū. I am going over for dinner tonight with the rest of the team, and I have a feeling that they will want to speak to me about it…So, what's my story?" she couldn't believe she had seriously gone for so long without really having to tell a back story. Whenever someone brought it up she would politely try and change the subject, or just tell small details like the first time she had met Minato and Kakashi, she has managed to avoid it for so long.

She also just didn't want to lie to her parents, it tore her up. Minato hated lying, granted he condoned it when necessary, such as the situation she is in right now she guessed. They were ninja's, and lying is what ninja's do. But he didn't like it when people lied to him in his own home when there is no mission to grant it.

"This might as well be a mission Naruto," the girl looked at the man in surprise; she didn't know if she had spoken aloud or if the man was a mind reader. She narrowed her eyes at the aging Hokage and crossed her arms.

"You're freaky," Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at the blonde, opting not to tell her that she had spoken aloud and decided to just let her think that he was just so knowledgeable. He opened his desk draw and took out a scroll, handing it to the blonde girl. Naruto took the scroll questioningly, slowly sliding it open. Inside was an entire back story which thankfully seemed to fit perfectly with what she has already told people. She didn't know how he had known what she already let slip, but it unnerved her.

"Double freaky," Sarutobi rolled his eyes at the girl, once again deciding not to tell her that he has read her scroll of memories, so it wasn't hard to figure out what she has and hasn't told people.

"This is the story I have been telling the council since you were 'nine', I was scared you'd let things slip that would make my story less believable, but it all seemed to go relatively according to plan," he watched her as she read through the scroll a few times, absorbing the story and burning it into her memory. She was sure Kurama would help her out if she forgot some information; the thought provoked a lazy growl from the beast.

Inoshi was incredibly skilled, so it only took an hour to document her memories over the last ten months, letting her leave as he stayed to feed the knowledge into the printer, adding to the already large scroll.

xXxXx

She walked slowly into the family oriented part of Konoha. She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to live in such a place, with a family, surrounded by other families. It was just so different to her own upbringing and current living arrangements.

It wasn't long before she found her parent's apartment, she knew that it wouldn't be long before they moved into a house a few blocks away, having learned about them from talking with Kakashi in the future. They had gotten married a month before Kakashi's twelfth birthday, meaning the wedding would probably be held in about nine or so months in August next year. She was looking forward to the Christmas proposal, if things played out like Kakashi had told her they had the first time around.

Naruto walked up to the front door empty handed, unsure how the team dinners worked when held at Minato and Kushina's apartment. The door swung open before she could knock, an excited Kushina, wrapped in a sky blue apron stood before her, dragging her in and closing the door quickly.

"Yay everyone is here!" she took Naruto's coat and hung it by the door with the others; she distinctly recognised which ones were Kakashi's, Obito's and Rin's. The smell hit her like a wall, an alluring one at that. Her heightened senses let her taste the flavours in the air, her mouth salivating at the mere thought of such a nicely homemade meal. Naruto's homemade meals generally consisted of microwave dinners and the occasional fresh vegetables, no matter how much she hated the things. This time around she didn't plan on being malnourished…not that she was really off to a good start.

Kushina ushered her inside and pushed her to an empty seat to the right of Rin. Kakashi sat across from her with Obito to his right. Minato sat the furthest away from her at the head of the table; he smiled warmly to her when their eyes met. Everything just seemed so _warm_.

Kushina came back carrying a large pot between her heavily mitted hands.

"And this, my beautiful people, is the last to be presented to the table: miso soup with eggplant!" Kakashi's eyes instantly fell on the pot, hungrily waiting to attack the mixture inside. Naruto could almost relate how he was now to before his spar with Obito when their sensei made them wait for a few minutes before actually letting them fight.

"Okay everyone, dig in," Minato announced, there was instant noise as people clanged plates and cutlery and asked people to pass certain items. She smiled at everyone in the room; the feeling warming her was so beautiful she could almost cry…almost.

She moved to pick up the bowl she'd had in front of her, ready to throw herself into the battle for food, before realising that it had disappeared. She blinked at the empty space between her fingers, questioning as to whether or not the bowl had been there at all. The most amazing scent hit her nose then, as a steaming bowl of miso ramen, topped with pork fillets was placed in front of her. She followed the hand to see Kushina with a smile on her face, seated to her right at the head of the table opposite Minato.

"I told you I would make your favourite," she said calmly and warmly to Naruto. She accepted the bowl with a giant smile, her nervousness leaving her almost immediately from the gesture.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto said loudly, two chopsticks between her hands. The rest of the table followed suit, digging in to their own food soon after.

xXxXx

Naruto sat with a hand on her bloated belly. Never had she eaten a meal so amazing, sure she loved Ichiraku Ramen, and she couldn't tell whose ramen was better. There was something about Kushina's cooking however; it was almost as if she could feel the love and happiness Kushina felt while making the meal through every bite.

Both her and Kushina had eaten a considerable amount of food, their metabolism's were faster than everyone else's, the Bijū chakra making quick work of digesting the food. Everyone sat around the table, making meaningless conversation about anything.

Naruto laughed as she listened to Obito talk of a particularly funny run in he had had with toddler Itachi when she felt a prickling sensation, as if she were being watched. She looked away from the Uchiha, smouldering charcoal eyes across the table meeting her crystalline blue ones.

The two stared at one another, the almost soft look in his eyes reminding her so much of the man she remembered, the man she see's he can become. She just hoped this time around that he wouldn't have to go through so much death and psychological damage. She didn't plan on letting Rin or Obito die this time. Not only because Obito would become a crazed lunatic that is set off by Rin's death, but because they were her treasured teammates now. She also didn't plan on letting her parents die either, that was certain.

She furrowed her brows when Kakashi's eyes dropped from hers to her neck, where she was currently playing with the blue and gold lightning pendant. She glanced at the beautiful shining pendant before looking back up at Kakashi, their eyes meeting again.

Minato and Kushina watched the pair with giant smiles on their faces, smiles that could rival the Cheshire cat. They continued the conversation they were having with Rin and Obito so as not to draw attention to the pair, however they almost couldn't bring themselves to draw their eyes away from them. It was sweet, and both of them were so happy to finally see Kakashi opening up. In an unconscious way that he doesn't realise, but opening up none-the-less.

The four were suddenly brought out of their dazed states at the sound of a loud bang. Obito stared wide eyed at the plate before him which he had accidentally flipped with his wild gestures during his latest tale. Kakashi let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding, busying himself by collecting various plates and dishes.

Everyone at the table followed Kakashi's example, packing up everything off the table and helping to carry it all into the kitchen. Everyone suddenly fell into a well rehearsed routine. Rin started wiping down the table, throwing away scraps that were left behind; Kushina began scraping scraps into the bin and covering the larger dishes and putting them to the side. Obito and Kakashi were doing the dishes, Kakashi washing while Obito dried. Minato was beside Obito, taking the newly dried dishes and placing them in their respective cupboards.

Naruto stood awkwardly, not knowing how she could help. Minato noticed her first and gently pushed her towards Kushina, urging her to ask to help since Kushina seemed to have her hands full.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" Kushina looked down to Naruto and smiled.

"Please put the scraps in the bin here and pass the plates to Kakashi to wash," Kushina seemed relieved as she began to section the left over's into smaller, one meal containers. Naruto began her new duty, passing each plate to Kakashi's outstretched hand, neither looking at the other.

It didn't take long between the six of them until the dining area and kitchen were spotless. It grew late, the sun having long since set below the horizon. The four eleven year olds stood and packed up their tea dishes, washing them before heading to the front door. Obito and Rin grabbed their coats first, taking a bag of leftovers from Kushina before saying a quick goodbye, heading to their respective houses.

Kakashi already had his jacket on, his own bag of leftovers in his hand, waiting for Naruto out of habit. Kushina however had other ideas.

"Naruto, would it be okay if you stayed for a while? I have some things I want to discuss with you," Naruto paused, her hand half way in her sleeve. She didn't think they had forgotten, she had just hoped they had opted against talking to her about it.

Kakashi raised a brow and looked between the trio in front of him, remembering the confrontation between Naruto and Kushina earlier that day. He also remembered the strange power that had radiated from them, he had felt it before from Naruto, but never from Kushina, and the whole thing just confused him.

"Okay, I'll see you later," he said to the three of them, the once warm and happy atmosphere suddenly turning dark. They obviously had serious business to attend to. He slowly walked out of his sensei's home, annoyed to no end. He would do everything in his power from now on to squish these thoughts he kept having of Naruto. Changing the words 'feeling' to 'thoughts' was the first step to disconnecting himself. He began the walk home by himself, reminding him of every walk home while Naruto was away. The very thought had him kicking himself again, the girl needed to get out of his head!

xXxXx

Back at her parent's house, Naruto sat awkwardly on the large lounge where she had been seated previously. All three of them sat in silence, none knowing how to start the conversation. They sat in silence for a considerable amount of time. Naruto heard light footsteps above them, thinking that the cat Tora, number whatever-it-was-now was prancing around the neighbourhood again, breaking the silence. Minato looked to the roof disapprovingly before shaking his head and smiling. The smile gave Naruto the confidence to finally start the inevitable.

"Uzumi isn't my real name," Naruto began, finding anything to talk about. Her parents looked almost relived that she had began talking. Both of them felt as if her life before Konoha was none of their business, however with Kushina being the Kyūbi's Jinchūriki, she couldn't pass up meeting another Jinchūriki.

"I can't actually tell you my real name, but it is one I cherish dearly. I was actually surprised at how much it hurt to not be able to use it. Hokage-sama and I thought it appropriate to use Uzumi, since it is similar to Uzumaki," Kushina looked up then, as did Minato, neither knowing where this was headed. They stayed quiet, silently encouraging her to continue.

"I was born on a large Island, north-east of Uzushiogakure, there were some Uzumaki's living there before the war began that lead to the land of Whirlpools fall," she couldn't look at either of her parents, knowing that she was blatantly lying to their faces.

"My grandmother was an Uzumaki, which is all I know of her. My parents both died the day I was born; it was the largest battle held in my homeland, a civil war that resulted in the death of a large percentage of the population. After my parents death I was practically free reign for the people there to do with me as they pleased. And what pleased them was a weapon. After the battle of the civil war; our north island wanted a weapon in case the south attacked again. They had some of the Kyūbi's chakra sealed inside of this porcelain jar. It was either built for the purpose of sealing the Bijū, or they just painted it afterwards since it had this really intricate painting of the demon fox on it," the mention of the Kyūbi had made the couple go completely rigid.

"The story they told us all said that an ancestor of ours had encountered the Bijū and tried to seal it, however he only managed to seal one tail before retreating. His sealing knowledge and strength was no match for a Bijū of nine tails. Or a Bijū at all really, I never really thought he sounded very strong." She was completely bullshitting, and she hated it. The only truth behind her words was that her grandmother was an Uzumaki and that was all she knew about her. She took a deep breath and remembered what the scroll had said, going over all the information again in her head.

"So then the beasts chakra was sealed within me that very day of my birth, not even hours after. I had no family to object to them using me, even as a baby I had the chakra levels of a child in the academy, and I also contained the Uzumaki life force. I had the perfect combination for a Jinchūriki. My life was hell, the villagers despised me, I was known as 'The Demon', 'Animal', 'Beast', whatever uncreative name you could think of, that was me. The only person in the entire village that treated me like a human being was the village leader. I don't care if it was because I was his weapon, he treated me like everyone else," she wasn't lying now; she didn't even need to remember the scroll Sarutobi gave her to remember the torment she went through.

"A man showed up when I was five, he said he was my Godfather. He was the man that suggested my name, he got it from a book," Naruto smiled at Minato's wide eyed look, he knew exactly which book she was referring to.

"Tales of a Gutsy Ninja," he said matter of fact. Naruto blinked at him in surprise—she could seriously be an actress.

"You've read it?" Minato smiled then, as did Kushina.

"Believe me I have read it, my sensei wrote it," Naruto's eyes grew impossibly wider, her eyebrows shooting into her hairline.

"No way!" She said, the atmosphere had lightened somewhat. However the lightened mood did nothing to placate Naruto, she still couldn't believe she could lie to someone's face that she loved. Not only lie to them, but to lie this convincingly. If she weren't so cut up over the situation, she would want to shove it into everyone's faces that said she could never be an undercover ninja. Her acting skills were superb.

"I actually always wanted to call my own child that in the future ever since I read it, but I don't think that would be too fair on my other students considering it may show a little favouritism," Kushina smiled at her boyfriend who was sitting on the ground at her feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her cheek atop his head, smiling as she stared at Naruto.

Seeing her parents act so lovingly before her made her want to blurt out the truth, but it also made her seal her lips tighter. She couldn't bear the thought of scaring them with the sudden outburst that she was their future daughter, she wouldn't put that pressure on their shoulders when they were so young, only twenty years of age, soon to be twenty-one in early January in Minato's case. Closing her eyes, Naruto continued with her tale.

"Everything began to look up a bit after his arrival. I had a family member for once; don't get me wrong, the village still hated me. But my Godfather was a very well respected and feared individual; he pretty much forced the villagers to respect me and the burden I carried. That was until Kumogakure got involved. It was the day I turned seven that they invaded, all my village people, my village leader, my Godfather, all of them were killed," She remembered back to her time when Oji-san died, when Jiraiya died. Tears sprang to her eyes and she faintly felt the strong and secure arms of her Father surrounding her.

Kushina couldn't believe how much like a Father and daughter they looked. Their matching unruly blonde hair and blue eyes could fool anyone, but it wasn't like they were twins obviously. Kushina practically wanted to adopt Kakashi when she was sixteen after she found out he was orphaned. However she had never wanted to adopt a child so much in her life (besides Kakashi of course) as when she looked at Minato and Naruto. The resemblance was seriously enough for them to be family.

"I hid there for about a month, not sure what to do. But it was when they suddenly brought their two Jinchūriki's to the island that I panicked. I knew they would know what I contained as soon as they came near me. I bolted for it in the middle of the night; there was a smaller island just south-west of the main one which I all lived, the Island we had been at war with during my birth. I waited at the shore for the tide to go out before I started my swim.

When I reached the south island however, it was in as much destruction as the last. I am lucky I am an amazing swimmer with enormous stamina and the Uzumaki life energy, because there was no way I wasn't staying on that island any longer. I had two choices, swim to the Land of Hot Water, or swim to the Land of Whirlpools," Kushina sighed at the sound of her home country's name.

"I didn't think I was strong enough to swim through the strong currents that surround Uzushiogakure, and since it is an island it also meant then swimming again to the mainland into Fire Country, but if I went to the Land of Hot Water I could travel by land. I decided to risk going through the Land of Hot Water, it is a dangerous country with an absolutely screwed up religion. The north near the city of Yugakure as you know is turning into a peaceful tourist site, however the south is still a shit hole of poverty and the mother site of the cult of Jashin…excuse my language," Naruto wasn't exactly sticking word for word to the scroll Oji-san gave her, but everything she was saying was the truth, and things that people from where she is supposed to be born would have been told.

"I can't tell you exactly what happened as I tried to make my way through the land of hot Water's cult land, it is a giant cluster of crap, but I too looked like absolute crap, so I fit in with the homeless. It isn't exactly a long distance, not for someone that has been undergoing Shinobi training anyway, but it took me at least a month to get out of there. Avoiding the cult of Jashin was ridiculously hard and they stopped my journey on numerous occasions.

Eventually I made it into the Land of Fire. My Godfather had told me such amazing stories about his time here, and just being here makes me feel closer to him. He told me about amazing adventures, like watching the three legendary Sanin's of Konoha fight Hanzo in the Land of Rain during the second great Shinobi war. He admired Lord Jiraiya, Tsunade-hime and Orochimaru, he said he wished I could be a Shinobi that surpassed them all one day," Minato and Kushina were taken aback slightly by that statement. Did he want her to be stronger than them because he wanted her to be strong enough to overthrow Konoha? Or did he sincerely want her to be stronger than them so as she would be strong enough to take care of and make a name for herself?

One look at Naruto's serene smile as she spoke about her Godfather made them both destroy the thought as soon as it came. He obviously cared for the girl; he also seemed to give the girl a good impression of Konoha Shinobi's. A good enough impression that she would decide to go through hell just to come to the Land of Fire instead of anywhere else like the north of the Land of Hot Water, the Land of Frost or even Water Country. All of them are closer to her home country than the city of Konoha.

"I ended up hiding inside a travelling merchant's carriage; it was large and cluttered like the man's that we escorted during our first C rank. He didn't find me ever; I stayed hidden during the day and moved around at night while he slept. It was harder when he stayed around Shinobi though, and the effort it took to suppress my chakra was exhausting, especially being only seven at the time; I was barely half a Genin,

Eventually he travelled to Konoha for the markets here, it was about two months before that giant _thing_ fell out of the sky that night," Minato and Kushina both remembered that night, the village had been told that it was a meteor, the crater filled with water from rain soon after and was later named Lake Kyūbi by the Fire Daimyo, as nine long tendrils snaked from the main body of water, resembling Konoha's current tailed beast.

"I lived for about three weeks around the streets of Konoha before Yamanaka Inoichi found me rummaging around the bins out the back of his parent's flower shop," Minato nodded, remembering how Naruto showed to know the man that day in the mission room.

"He took me to the Hokage Tower, not knowing what else to do with me; he sure as hell didn't want to leave me on the streets. I probably looked like a savage. It was that day that I was swiftly taken away to T&I when the Kyūbi's chakra was discovered in me," she saw Kushina grimace at the mention of T&I, picturing the young girl being strapped up inside, filthy and probably starving, alongside all the criminals.

"I was turning eight that year, and since I had gone through normal ninja training up until the night of my seventh birthday, Hokage-sama put me into Rin and Obito's year in the academy. It didn't come easily, I had many tests done during my stay in the T&I department. I had an entire scroll made, documenting my life from as far back as my memories take me, further even since Yamanaka Inoshi seems to be almost annoyingly good at what he does. To placate the council, every month since then I have been visiting the Hokage to have my memories documented, making sure that I have no ill intent towards the village. It is to make sure that I am not here to get close to you all just to kill you all when you were least aware.

Hokage-sama put me on your team for a few reasons, one being that you were taking a team, and seeing as you had an apprentice, if Kakashi stayed an apprentice, you could still have a normal team of three, since there were an uneven amount of Genin's. Another reason was your closeness to Kushina, you know about the Kyūbi's chakra, he thought you'd be less likely to condemn me _when_ you found out," Naruto's voice was low. The story she had just told was the very story that Sarutobi had been telling the council for the past few years, and everyone, such as the Yamanaka's were informed of the story in case someone from the council came to verify.

Minato repositioned his arms around Naruto at that point, pulling her into a tight embrace. Kushina too, moved forward and manoeuvred herself into the hug. Kushina could and couldn't understand what the girl had been through. Kushina understood losing her entire clan, but Konoha was always there to protect her and to help her through her turmoil. Naruto had been so alone nearly her entire life, then once again alone having to travel through dangerous lands and swim across oceans, just to find a safe place that still hadn't completely accepted her after years of service.

"Now I understand why you don't like us celebrating your birthday," Minato whispered, feeling the small girl shudder in his arms.

"Too many people died on the day I was born, then again years later on my seventh birthday—" Naruto laughed a dark chuckle, not a laugh that should be leaving a young eleven year old girl "—let's just say that my birthday was the day that things always got bad, the villagers became more fearful during that day since it was the anniversary of the civil war battle…My birthday has always been a dark occasion spent either in pain or shut off from the rest of the world," now she wasn't lying, she truly did hate her birthday, there were just too many bad memories associated with it.

Naruto's hand snaked up to her neck, the blue and gold lightning pendant warm on her skin, Kakashi's chakra still pulsing inside the small charm. She smiled at the gift, she never took it off, the constant flow of chakra that wasn't hers or Kurama's let her sleep well at night, it made her feel as if someone was always there with her. She always touched it when she felt sad or lonely for that very reason. Kushina noticed her smile and looked to the necklace.

"That is beautiful, where'd you get it?" she asked, pulling back from the hug to get a better look at the pendant.

"Kakashi gave it to me after our team dinner after coming back from the battle field. He said he accidentally made it a few months ago when he used a lightning technique he has been practicing during a battle. He said it reminded him of me; it was my belated birthday present. It helps me sleep at night and keep away my nightmares, there are remnants of his chakra inside, it makes me feel as if someone is always with me, no matter where I am," Naruto felt like kicking herself after that word diarrhoea, she had shared more than she intended to. Minato and Kushina smiled at one another, Naruto was completely oblivious to their knowing smirks.

"Well there's one," Naruto looked up to her father questioningly, unsure as to what he was referring to.

"'One' what?" she asked.

"One good memory about your birthday," Naruto blinked, and then a small blush crept across her cheeks. It was true; she now had another good memory related to her birthday. Kakashi always was the one to celebrate it with her in her old time. Forcing her to sit down and listen to him sing a half assed rendition of 'Happy Birthday', involving many hummed parts and skipping of others before making her blow out a lone candle on a cupcake. Once he thought he would be funny and light the candle with a katon justu, pumping enough chakra into it so as she couldn't blow it out. Unfortunately for him she wasn't scared to use a futon justu and blast him and his damn cupcake across the field.

"You're what I always pictured they would be like," she said suddenly, her word diarrhoea getting the better of her yet again.

"Who?" Kushina asked, looking to the young girl quizzically. Naruto sighed; she'd brought this upon herself with her inability to shut up.

"My parents," she said at last. Both Minato and Kushina froze suddenly, Naruto winced and hunched into a ball, bringing her knees to her chest, waiting for them to do or say something...anything. Minato moved first, burying his face into Naruto's hair, he dragged the girl onto his lap, hugging her tighter.

"And we wish that if we ever have a daughter, she will be as amazing as you Naruto," new tears sprung into her eyes, listening to her parents say that warmed her inside. To her, they might as well have just called her their daughter and said they were proud of how she had turned out. To her, what Minato said might as well have been that.

xXxXx

It was an hour later when Naruto finally began to gather her things to leave, her portion of the leftovers from dinner secured in a bag.

They were going to offer for her to stay but knew she would decline, if she was anything like they thought she was, she probably thought she was burdening them, it was nearly midnight and they were all obviously tired. At the door the three of them stopped, Kushina handing Naruto her coat.

"I would offer to walk you home, but there has been someone sitting on our roof waiting for you for quite a while now," there was a scuffling on the roof then as the person panicked at being caught.

Kakashi appeared then at the door, his cheeks were slightly flushed, from the cold weather or from being caught, Naruto didn't know. However she had a good idea it was the latter since the night air was simply cool. Kakashi stood silently, fidgeting at his sensei's doorstep. He decided he wasn't even going to try to explain himself; no excuse would get him out of this.

Naruto smiled at everyone, hugging Minato and Kushina one last time and thanking them for everything. When the door closed, both Kakashi's and Naruto's heightened hearing could hear the duo giggling like school girls. Naruto outright laughed while Kakashi's shoulders somehow hunched more than they already were.

The two of them walked in silence, Naruto was elated and felt so good she wasn't even going to attempt teasing Kakashi for sticking around for her. His actions were also part of the reason she was feeling so happy. It was nice to have people care about her, and Kakashi was starting to resemble the man she knew more and more.

One thing however was bugging her, Kakashi's hearing was as good as hers, if not better. She was surprised she hadn't heard him on the roof…until she remembered the light footsteps she had guessed were from Tora the demon cat. His presence brought up questions, Naruto wondered just how much Kakashi had heard, so she asked.

"How much did you hear?" there was still a small smile on her face at this point, making Kakashi think that maybe she wouldn't be mad.

"All of it," he said reluctantly, Naruto didn't really seem to care however and it made him relax…slightly. They soon stopped outside of Naruto's apartment; they turned to face each other, Naruto about to say goodbye.

The words caught in her throat however when she saw Kakashi's outstretched hand. His fingers lightly brushed her collarbone, causing her breath to hitch. He picked up the small pendant and twirled it between his fingers. Naruto felt energy heat her neck, a light blue tinge to the dark night lightening Kakashi's features. They stayed like that for what felt like minutes, maybe it was, but Naruto just stared at her older teammate, not questioning what he was doing.

The light disappeared and he dropped his hand, the pendant felt warmer, much warmer. She looked down to see it almost glowing, the blue and gold moving inside as if it were molten. She realised then that he had pumped more of his chakra into it, enough that his chakra would probably radiate from the small charm for years. Perhaps they really had been there for minutes.

Naruto also realised something then, a blush burning across her cheeks.

"You really heard _everything_," Kakashi looked to her with a '_nuh-duh_' kind of expression before he realised that Naruto was embarrassed. Embarrassed that he had heard what she had said about him and the pendant.

Kakashi grinded almost wickedly as he leaned forward, his mouth coming to a stop right next to her ear.

"Good night Naruto, sleep well," and with that he turned and left, leaving Naruto to find her way into her apartment, and like Kakashi told her to do, she slept _really_ well.

xXxXx

Thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter, it was awesome to hear your thoughts, I really appreciate it. Seriously. Your reviews make me all happy inside. I am so happy to get this chapter out, there were some things in here that I needed to get into the story for future chapters :)

I am thinking of breaking this up into parts, this is part one, the beginning of the normal timeline part two and then Shippuden would be part 3. I have heaps I want to do for the future, so this will probably be a veeeerry long story, simply because I won't post a new story for each part, I will probably just keep them all in this story with part 1-3 at the beginning of each chapter title.

Sorry if it seems like I am making it up on the spot…Cause I know where I am going, it is just that everything in between really is half being made up on the spot, it is why the beginning chapters are crapola compared to the more recent ones. Because the last few chapters have had little planning, but involve things to do with other chapters. I am trying not to make it all seem like a crap load of short stories haha.

With Obito, I looked it up in the databook and his _worst_ trait was taijutsu…But I don't care, I like his character development so far, so I am sticking with it.

Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, it is my longest yet. Oh holidays how I love thee.

Tiarni

Ps. Woot woot to 9,551 word chapter


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